The Beginning
by AgentR084
Summary: Lily Kirk is much like her twin brother, James Kirk, with very few subtle differences. After choosing to go and join Starfleet, Lily and Jim go on an adventure for which neither are prepared for. They have to face the person responsible for their father's death, and for Lily, she won't leave without a scar. *Star Trek characters and plot don't belong to me. Lily and few others do.*
1. Chapter 1

The wailing of a babies broke through the conn. George Kirk perked up at the sound of his new children.

"What are they?" He asked. His wife, Winona Kirk, held in her hands two babies. Twins.

"It's a boy." She gave her wailing son a smile and kissed his head before looking at the other. "And a girl." She quickly added and repeated the same process she did with her son to her only daughter as her husband talked.

"A boy? And a girl? Tell me about them." George Kirk told his wife. He wanted to know at least something about his children before he died.

"They're beautiful." She paused for a second. She took in their looks. Both had blue eyes that looked remarkably similar to George's. "George, you should be here." Winona said. George just nods in agreement as he looks ahead.

"Impact Alert." The computer warns him. He looks at how much time was left. He had roughly 18 seconds left.

"What are we gonna call him?" He asked. George kept looking straight ahead as if he could see his newborn children right in front of him.

"We can name him after your father." She replied looking down at her son once again.

"Tiberius? You kidding me? No, that's the worst." He said as he smiled holding back tears. Then looked back down at the time. Less than ten seconds left. "Let's name after your dad. Let's call him, Jim."

"Jim." Winona repeated. She'd name after whatever George wanted, after all he wasn't going to be around for much longer. "Okay. Jim it is. What about her?"

"Lily." George said without hesitation. "Let's call her Lily." Less than five seconds left before impact.

"Okay"

George looked down at the time left. Two seconds to go before impact. "Sweetheart? Can you hear me?" He asked his wife

"I can hear you." She responded looking back up at the ceiling of the shuttle. George had less than a second left.

"I love you so much." 20 milliseconds. "I love you." George said before he was hurtled forward onto something as the USS Kelvin crashed into the unknown enourmous ship.

Winona saw the explosion that claimed the life of her husband through the window. Tears spilled from her eyes as she hugged her newborn children.

-Years Later on Earth-

"You know what get the hell out of the house! When your mom comes back she can deal with you!" A man walks out of the house following an older boy. Trailing behind him were two kids, a boy and a girl. The man continues to talk. "Go ahead! Go! You think I give a damn!"

"Where are you going?" asks the boy ignoring the man for a second.

"As far away as I can get!" Replies the boy in front. He had blonde hair much like the boy who was following the man, yet had it a bit of brown like the little girl.

"Which won't be far enough!" retorted the man. "This is my house! Not yours, not your mother's!" he turns to the young boy, completely ignoring the girl behind him. "What do you want Jimmy?" The oldest boy stops and looks back.

The boy, named Jim, hesitates before answering. "I just don't want my brother to go." He replies looking over at his brother.

"Well what you want doesn't matter. You're no one, and I asked you to wash the car." He berates Jim, then turns to both kids. "How many damn times do I have to repeat myself?" The kids just look down then up at him. He turns to the oldest. "Go." Is all he says before walking back into the house. The oldest boy is a few steps behind him before stopping.

"Please stay." The girl finally says. Her brother immediately turns around.

"I can't take Uncle Frank any more. Mom has no idea what he's like when she's not around. Do you hear him talking like he's our dad?! That's not even his car you're washing, that's dad's car." He says in one breath before he starts to walk away. Both kids stand for a second before exchanging looks and catching up to their older brother.

The little girl is the first to catch up to her older brother, Jim following closely behind. "You're leaving us, George." The little girl states. The older brother, whose name was George, looked down to his sister. Sadness in his eyes. He looks straight ahead. George begins to talk.

"You'll be okay. Both of you. You're always okay. Always doing everything right. Always getting good grades. Obeying every stupid order." George stops in front of his younger siblings. "I can't be a Kirk in this house. Show me how to do that and I'll stay."

George looks at his brother before looking at his sister. Both of them looked ahead knowing they didn't have an answer. George kneeled in front of his sister.

"You have to watch out for him, Lily. I'm not going to be here, so I need you to watch him." Before she could protest, George stood up. "Same goes to you." He said to Jim. "I'll see you." George said at last and left.

Both siblings look at their brother go, before giving each other a knowing look and walking back to the house. Once they reach back, they immediately get started on washing their dad's old car.

They each go to one side washing it from the outside. After they finish on the outside they begin on the inside. As the girl cleans on the inside of her side of the car, her twin brother opens a flap and keys fall out in front of them. Upon hearing the noise she turns to look at him.

Jim stares at the keys in wonder then smirks. Thinking about it, Lily's eyes go big and she begins to shake her head.

"Oh no. No, Jim. You can't. Jim! Listen to me! It's not worth it!" She tries to get him to stop, but it's useless.

"Lils, come on! Uncle Frank is going to sell it! I just want to go for a spin." He pauses. "Are you going to stop me?" He asks his twin sister. Lily thinks over it and shakes her head towards Jim.

"No, but I'm coming with you." She says. She chucks out the cleaning supplies and closes the door to the passenger side as Jim closes his door and puts the keys in the ignition. "I'm going to regret this some day." Lily mutters to herself, but Jim heard. Jim smiles and starts the car and drives off down the driveway.

They heard the door suddenly open and Lily turned around to see their uncle at the doorway looking in their direction. He hurriedly goes back inside.

Lily slightly nervous looks forward again. Jim couldn't see much over the steering wheel, but he could see enough to the point of not crashing. The phone rang. Lily looks at it and Jim answers. It was Uncle Frank.

"Are both of you out of your minds? That car is an antique. Think you can get away with it just 'cause your mother is off planet. You get your asses back home...now. You live in my house buddy. You live in my house, and that's my car." He said. He was pissed. We could tell. "You get one scratch on that car, and I'll whip both of your-" Lily never heard the end of that threat as she hanged up and put on some music.

"You heard him. Just one scratch." Jim said as he unlatched the roof from his side before turning to Lily with a smile. Lily smiled back and unlatched it from her side sending the roof flying away in the direction they just came from.

Eyes wide she looked ahead as the wind blew her hair. Jim stood up a bit and screamed, "Yeah!"

Lily now over her nerves said the same afterwards with her hands in the air. They sped along the road seeing someone walking up ahead.

The person stuck his hand out without turning around to see. Jim and Lily sped past him (honking might I add), while shouting "Hey Johnny!" simultaneously.

Lily would never admit it to Jim (though he could probably tell), but that was one of the best decisions she'd ever make in her life. Even in the future she'd say that no matter how much trouble they'd get into it would never compare to the day that stole their dad's car. She never felt this much adrenaline before, and she liked it.

George heard the sound of the police behind him and turned around to see a cop following his siblings as he starred opened mouth in the direction they were in. Jim and Lily heard the sounds behind them too, and took a quick glance at the cop before looking ahead again. Well, Lily did anyway. Jim could see all thru the rear view mirror.

The cop on his machine pulled up next to them as they drove over 80 miles per hour. "Citizens pull over." He commanded the twins. Instead Jim took the next available turn to get away from the cop.

The cop turned and followed them. The twins ducked as they crashed the car past a gate. They sat up and laughed, but it was short lived as Lily looked ahead and didn't see any road.

"Jim! There's no road ahead!" She warned him.

"Thanks for the heads up!" He said. As they neared Lily saw that if they didn't jump soon they'd go down with the car. Lily calculated that if she jumped 60 feet before the cliff she would not fall down with the car.

"Jim, I'm going to jump now! I'm not as strong as you!" She said when he gave her a sideways look. He nodded and she opened the door. She was running out of time. She closed her eyes tight as she pushed her legs away from the car. She rolled in the dirt after she landed with a THUMP and felt a bit of pain surge through her body.

She opened her eyes realising she stopped rolling. The first thing she saw was up ahead a bit where she saw Jim jump out at the last second. She immediately got up and ran in his direction as he held on trying to pull himself up. Once there she grabbed his hand and pulled as he used his other hand to push himself up.

She fell flat on her bum, when Jim was safely on the ground. She did a quick check on her limbs. A few cuts here and there. Luckily she was wearing a T-shirt and jeans so she didn't get cut up so badly. She was now dirty too, as was Jim who was still next to her catching his breath, but stood up anyway.

"Is there a problem officer?" He asked.

"What are your names, citizens?" The cop asked. Jim looked up to see him.

Jim stood up straighter and said "My name is James Tiberius Kirk."

Lily stood after Jim and stood as tall as she could next to him. "And my name is Lillian Kelly Kirk." She said when the cop turned to her. She looked over at Jim and thought

"I should've brought a jacket. It would've left me with less cuts and bruises."

Several Years Later

Lily's POV

I was sitting on the roof of the garage/barn. It was one of those rare moments when Jim wasn't around nagging about something entirely ridiculous or when he wasn't bothering me in any way. Uncle Frank died last year (in an car accident, which I find ironic), so I wasn't too worried about him bothering me anytime soon.

I was staring up at the stars, just thinking (a regular hobby I hope my brother will pick up, eventually). Just thinking about Dad for one, the vast entity that is space for the second, and Starfleet for the third. Though Dad was what was mostly on my mind.

I missed him. Though I never exactly knew him, but he knew me somewhat better than I did. According to Mom he's the one that picked our names just before he died, so being called 'Lily' means all that much more to me. He died saving not only Jim and I, but the rest of the crew that was aboard the USS Kelvin and Mom.

For all of us (and when I mean all of us I mean Mom, George, Jim and I) it is a difficult subject to talk about with anyone. Mom starts tearing almost instantly, while the rest of us put on brave faces. Though it hurts badly on the inside, sometimes it gets to us and our brave facade comes crumbling down.

I wish I could say I don't cry over it, but I do. Never meeting my father (who would've been great compared to Uncle Frank), the man who saved my life as I was being born... There are no ways I can physically or mentally describe it. It's just there.

My father never heard me or Jim say 'Dad' or anything of the sort. I never sang happy birthday to him. I never clinged on to him when there was a storm, when I was little. Never went stargazing with him on the roof of the barn (like I was now) as he told me stories from his times in Starfleet.

If he were alive, I think I'd still be with Uncle Frank, but I would've at least have seen him throughout my life. Maybe he would've helped me out answer the question that was on my mind: Should I go and pursue the career I want or stay behind?

I stared at the sky looking for answers, though I knew I'd probably never get them from there it was worth a shot.

"Dad," I spoke out loud staring at the night sky with its twinkling stars and different coloured dots. "I need your help. I don't know what to do. Starfleet..." I grabbed the packet of papers I had brought up with me. "Starfleet responded back...and they accepted me. They want me to come with the new recruits that are leaving in 2 weeks."

I sighed, it was a tough decision. "A Starfleet captain called earlier to tell me he was going to be waiting for my response. A response which I have to give him within the next 3-4 days." At this point, I sighed. The weights of my consequences should I choose wrong were over bearing. My vision started to get blurry. I had tears in my eyes. I wiped them away. "Dad, I want to go. To finish what you started. Joining Starfleet... Starfleet, a dream come true for me. I'm not regretting it one bit, but what about Jim?"

It was always Jim, the one person I couldn't stand to leave behind. He was my twin for goodness sakes. I could never stand the pain of leaving him. George was closer to Jim than he was to me, but we loved each other all the same. When he left...it affected him. I didn't notice it at the time, but slowly, and surely, it did.

We've been through many things. Dad's dead. Mom and George left so it's only us two, until one of us leaves. I don't want to know what would happen to Jim if I left. Probably break him even more. I'm not also willing to find out what he does when he finds out that I'm going to Starfleet. Dad died in space and I'm going back to space. Not good in his eyes.

I heaved another sigh. I looked down at the packet with a solitary tear running down my cheek. I didn't bother to wipe it away. "What do I tell them? Should I go, or should I stay with Jim? Give me an answer, Dad. I don't know what to do." I sat there looking at the sky, for anything. Anything that could give me a clue as to what to do. But nothing came, so I just sat there and do what I usually did when I came up here. Stargaze.

It was a long while before I moved from my spot. My thoughts clouding my mind, so when a bike parked in front of the barn I didn't pay much attention. That is until the person who rode the bike decided to open their mouth and yelled at me, I'm order to be heard.

"Hey, Lil!" I was completely startled and somehow managed to fall on my back from my sitting position. I sat up once again, hurriedly wiping my eyes removing any evidence of my tears. I looked down. It was Jim.

"Hey, Jim." I told him from my place. I waved. He waved back. The usual greetings. My voice though croaked a bit.

"Are you coming down or am I coming up?" He asked not noticing the change in my voice.

"Depends." I replied with my vocal chords now back. "What time is it?"

"Close to half past midnight."

"I'm coming down." I went through the latch and climbed down the ladder, hiding the packet before I climbed down. I hoped he didnt notice that my eyes were slightly red. Jim was at the entrance. "Why are you back so early?" I asked once I reached him. He shrugged.

"I wanted to see my favourite sister."

"I'm your only sister, Jim." I retorted.

"Automatically makes you my favourite sister," as he put his arm around my shoulders as we walked back to the house. I internally sighed in relief as he didn't question anything else. Then I proceeded to rolled my eyes. "So what were you doing up there so late?"

"Thinking."

"About what?"

"Decisions."

"Would one of those decisions be whether or not I am attractive, because I thought we agreed that I am, in fact, incredibly attractive." I gave him a confused look.

"When you're standing next to me not so much." I scrunched up my face for emphasis as I quickly looked at him. "On your own though, incredibly attractive, and considering that we spend most of our time together, it's not saying much." He removed his arm and nudged me, and then I nudged him back.

As we reached the front door to the house, it was an all out war. Poking each other trying to find each others weak spots. We stood within an arms distance from each other. So if either of us, the other would just step back in order not to get poked. Jim had found my weak spots where, if poked, I'd start laughing. My guess was that he was trying to tickle me, and I wouldn't let him, because the way things were going it seemed we were going down that road. The tickle road, which was the one I detested the most and Jim knew that.

"Alright," I didn't drop my stance though. "Truce?" I asked him. He stood straight up and extended his hand.

"Truce." He replied as I eyed his hand warily. Something about it wasn't fitting right with me, but I still straightened up. "What?" He saw where my line of sight was. "Come on. I'm not going to do anything."

"Are you sure about that?" I responded.

"Come on, it's me."

"And that's what scares me. You could be lying for all I know and trap me in your evil hands. Then start tickling me, and we both know someone might end up hurt because of it. Most likely you." I told him calmly, but I was waiting... Waiting for him to make the first move. It never came.

We stood facing each other, Jim's hand still extended. It was about five minutes before the chilly night air got the best of me. Maybe wearing a thin jacket, knowing it was going to be almost 60°F tonight, wasn't such a good idea.

I shook Jim's hand. "Truce." I said.

"I knew you'd come around," he said as he walked inside. "You were starting to get cold."

"How you tell?" I asked as I followed him inside. "Maybe I was getting tired of me just staring at your hand."

"Come on I'm your twin brother. I know when you're cold." He went into the kitchen, and came back out with an apple in hand. "Plus, I could see you shivering." He added then munched on his apple as he took a seat in the dining room. I copied him and sat across from him.

"Hey, Jim?" I questioned him. He looked at me with the apple in his mouth. "I was thinking. You know about the future." His eyes for a fraction of a second got enormous. "And no, I'm not leaving." I said quickly, he relaxed.

'Maybe, not yet.' I thought.

"What do mean then, Lil?" He asked, taking me out of my thought.

"I mean later when we're older. What if I get married or something? What if I leave for a college or leave?" I told him.

"I'm still not following." He said with a confused look.

"What I'm trying to say is... will you be alright? If I left one day." I said quietly, but I knew he heard me. His face was blank. I couldn't tell if he was upset, angry, or apprehensive.

The silence between us was unbearable. Sitting there just looking at him with his blank face. It wasn't giving me much clues about what he was thinking, though I was leaning towards the negative side. So you can understand my surprise when he said:

"Well..." He started. "If you really wanted to go... to a college far away, then I... can't stop you. Can't I? I would let you go even if I don't want you to, because I want you to be happy."

I just sat there with my mouth hanging partially open. I didn't expect him to say that.

"But promise me one thing, Lil." I nodded to let him continue. "Please don't go far away for a college." I immediately closed my mouth.

"Don't worry, I'm not going away to college." I told him. It was the truth I wasn't going to college, I was going to Starfleet. And thanks to Jim, he finally gave me my answer.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily's POV

"Hey Lew" I greeted the bartender as I slid onto one of the seats in front of the counter. Lew came over.

"Hey Lily, what can I get you today?" He asked.

"My usual," then Jim came over and sat down on the seat next to mine. "And his usual too." I added. Lew nodded and went to get our drinks.

"Who's Lew?" He asks after a few minutes of silence.

"You know him." I said

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. He's the guy who doesn't kick you out after your fights."

"Oh, I've been wondering why he does that."

"He's a friend. And because, I work here every now and then to pay for the damages that you caused in your fights." I said sternly.

"You fight too."

"Only to save your sorry butt." I sighed. "Why do you fight so many people, Jim?"

"Because I know you're there to watch out for me, or as you put it 'to save my sorry butt'." Jim said. It touched my heart, when he said that.

"But I'm not always going to be there James." I said sternly. I really need to tell him about Starfleet.

"What do you mean?" He caught on that I called him 'James'.

Before I could reply, people came into the bar. A massive amount of people, all wearing a red uniform. Starfleet. Soon I was going to be one of them. I turned back to Jim. His attention was on a table, upon which a group of female Starfleet cadets were sitting.

"Go ahead." I told him. He raised his an eyebrow. "It's okay. We'll talk later." He nodded and went over to them.

Just as he left Lew came over with our drinks. "That took you awhile." I said.

"Have you told him?" He ignored my jab and went straight to interrogation. We both looked over at Jim, who was smiling and being flirty with one of the cadets. I turned to Lew.

"No, but I'm going to soon." I added as Lew gave me a small glare.

"Lily, you have tell him. You're leaving in the morning." Lew said. I sighed again.

"I know. I know. I'm going to tell him soon." I told him.

I know it's not natural to tell your friend first then your brother that you're leaving, but I never actually knew how to tell Jim. Well, that and Lew is my boss and closest friend. And I do have other friends, I just talk more to Lew than the others.

Jim then came back and reclaimed his seat. He slumped in his seat and placed his head on the wooden counter. Lew left, but not before giving me the 'you better tell him now before I do' look. Yeah, his looks are very specific.

"So I'm guessing another no." He didn't reply. I wasn't too keen on starting up our previous conversation (even with Lew's threat), and it seemed that Jim had, either, forgotten or just doesn't want to talk. So I let it be.

We sat in silence. I was mostly thinking, with my head in between my hands, of ways to tell him. If I wasn't able to tell Jim before I left in the morning then I'd tell him when I arrived where ever I arrived. But I'd rather tell him in person, I owe him that much.

My brother moved. He was looking over at a cadet who was ordering drinks to Lew. She was loud. I guess she had to be in order to be heard over the music and talking.

Jim opened his big mouth. "That's a lot of drinks for one woman."

"And a shot of Jack, straight up." The lady added to her order.

"Make that two. Her shot's on me." Jim told Lew.

"Her shot's on her. Thanks but no thanks." The lady said. I was starting to like her. Maybe I'll make a friend!

"Do you at least want my name before you completely reject me?" Jim asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm fine without it." The lady responded. Yep, my new friend!

"You are fine without it." Jim said. I nudged him in his ribs, and he sent a glare in my direction afterwards. He turned back to the lady.

"It's Jim. Jim Kirk." Silence. He waiting for an answer. Nothing. "If you don't tell me your name, I'm gonna have to make one up." He said.

"Uhura." She said at last.

"Uhura? No way! That was the name I was gonna make up for you." I scoffed softly at Jim. "Uhura what?" Jim asked Uhura.

"Just Uhura." She responded.

"They don't have last names in your world?" Jim said.

"Uhura is my last name." Uhura said.

"Well, they don't have...uh," he momentarily closes his eyes. "First names in your world?" He asked at last.

"Smooth, Jim." I told him. I grab my drink and head over to the vacant seat that is next to her.

"Sorry about that" I momentarily paused. "Actually, I have no excuse for that." I extend my hand. "Lily. Lily Kirk" Uhura shakes it.

"So is he your boyfriend?" She asks as I'm taking a drink water. I almost spit it out, but I swallowed it.

"Oh thank goodness no. I don't think he could handle it. Plus that would be incredibly creepy if we were." I responded. "He's my brother, as you can tell by our last names." Uhura's eyes went big when I said 'brother'.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" I held up my hand.

"Don't worry. It was bound to happen." I said. "Plus, I'm not his type and he isn't mine. So if we weren't related, we still wouldn't go out."

"So tell me about your brother, is he always like that?" She inquired. She was genuinely curious, and not after him like many women who've asked me the same question.

"At times, yes. He's also immature, impulsive-" I got interrupted when Jim stepped between Uhura and I. Apparently I was talking too much.

"So you're a cadet. Studying. What's your focus?" He asked Uhura, trying to change the topic and the focus of her attention from me to him. Intrigued, as would most people are by my brother, she answered him.

"Xenolingustics. You have no idea what that means." She told Jim as I turned to my drink and thought 'You are so wrong, my new friend.'

"The study of alien languages. Phonology, morphology, syntax. It means you have a talented tongue." Of course, Jim being Jim. He had to put sexual innuendos in whatever he was saying.

I then proceeded to pretend to gag. That was until Jim nudged me. I turned to look at him. He was still facing Uhura. I stuck my tongue out at him in return. Childish I know, but what can I do...he's my annoying brother.

"I'm impressed. For a moment I thought you were just a dumb hick who only had sex with farm animals." Uhura replied not seeming to notice my encounter with Jim.

"Well, not only." He smirked. I pulled the best straight face I could and looked over Jim's shoulder at Uhura.

"He's not kidding." I told her. She took one look at me before cracking up. Jim turned to me. "What? It's true." I replied putting my hands up in surrender. I turned to my drink, just as did Jim.

I felt a presence behind me, and then a gruff voice talking. "This townie isn't bothering you, right?" It seemed the question was directed towards Uhura, and he just ignored me. I turned and took a good look at whoever was trying to be the hero.

It was a burly cadet, since he was wearing the same style of uniform as Uhura. I sighed internally. I didn't want to concur the wrath of the cadet the day before I left. Or maybe I did.

"Beyond belief, but nothing I can't handle." Uhura said.

'And now Jim's comment...' I thought.

"You could handle me. That's an invitation." Jim said directing it to Uhura. I rolled my eyes.

'Bingo'

"Hey! You better mind your manners." The cadet tells Jim.

'Like that's going to happen'

"Relax cupcake, it was a joke." Jim replied as he pats his shoulder. Jim and I return to our drinks, when out of the corner of my eye I see the cadet grab Jim's jacket and makes him face him.

Immediately I get up from my seat, turning to the cadet. Whose friends decided to come and join the party. "Hey farm boy! Maybe you can't count, but there are four of us and one of you" the cadet threatened Jim, completely ignoring me.

Jim saw me and placed his hand near me pushing me back, so I can get back in my seat. Reluctantly, I sat down. But I stared at the cadets from my seat, even though they weren't paying attention at me.

"So go get some more guys and then it'll be an even fight." Jim pats the cadet's cheek. He turns around to his drink, and I was about to do the same. Then came the punch that landed Jim on the wooden counter with his mouth open from the force of the punch.

Once again, I got up from my seat. I looked at the cadets and said: "You might want to rethink your decision."

They looked at me questioningly before the cadet from before, who I am guessing is the leader, tried to land a punch on me. I kicked him, square in the chest, before he could.

What I didn't anticipate, though, was Jim kicking him at the same time. The force of our kicks together, landed the cadet on top of a table, which then from that momentum toppled the table down. His friends stared in, what I like to call horror but who knows.

I got into my stance, anticipating a fight. 'No backing out now.'

"Left." I told Jim once he was next to me.

"Right it is." He replied. Off we went in our said directions.

One of the cadets immediately tried to grab me as soon as I stepped his direction. I punched in the stomach, knowing it'd empty him of air.

The cadet, whom I'd nickname 'Baldy' for lack of name...and hair, got up from his spot on the ground with the ruins of a table surprisingly fast. His wrist was broken, I suspected from landing on it when he hit the ground.

Baldy still though wanted to hit me with his broken hand. Idiot. That just means that I have to break it even more. Hey, don't judge. He landed the first blow on Jim. Baldy started it.

Baldy came at me again, punching me in the face. It stung, but after many fights I've gotten used to it. I punched him back. He caught me off guard though because he then did the unpredictable... He pushed me.

From all of the moves, he could've done. He decided to push me. Childish, and I should know childish. I am childish. Anyway, I landed on another table kicking down drinks that were on it. My arms were grabbed and held. The cadet who wasn't baldy had a good grip.

I then did the next first three things that popped into my mind, which was: step on feet (check), bite part of arm I was able to reach (check), and head bash him (check). The head bashing was extremely hard as I was a bit dizzy afterwards.

I saw glimpses of Jim as I fought on my side of the bar. He seemed to be fine on his own. Well, other than the bloddy face he was sporting.

My attention was brought back to my fight, when I saw Baldy aiming a punch at my head. Since I couldn't think of anything else. I ducked. That punch ended up in the face of the cadet that was holding me. He landed on a table and ended up on the floor, holding his face in his hands.

Immediately, without thinking I might add, kicking, once again, Baldy. Although this time, it was sideways and it knocked him down. Baldy immediately got up again, while the other cadet was still on the ground. Baldy aimed a punch, again, but stopped when we heard an earsplitting whistle.

Everything and everyone momentarily stopped moving. No one dared to breath, well except for Jim who was groaning. I moved my head towards the source of the whistle.

In the front was a man, older than of the cadets, with a uniform on. He was staring at the cadet that was holding on to a bloody and groaning Jim.

When the cadets got a good look at the man they all stood a straight and at attention. He was obviously in a higher place of command, due to the way the cadets reacted. So...Starfleet.

"Outside, all of you! NOW!" He added when the cadets didn't move at first.

The cadets briskly headed out. Some complaining, others saying nothing. The only thing that could be heard over their complaining, was Jim's groaning. The cadet whose wrist I broke picked up the other, who I had head bashed as he held me. I glared at them as they walked by.

I was brought to my senses when I when I heard "You can whistle really loud, you know that?"

Immediately I wove and dove my through the cadets and to Jim.

"You're a real troublemaker, you know that?" I told him as I sat him up on the table. He just smiled. "You good to know that you're that still you." I added after I saw his smile.

"Hey Lew!" I yelled. He looked at me. "Could you..." I trailed off. He knew what I was asking.

He waved his arms and yelled: "Alright, everyone. Please leave the premises. We are closed! Please leave!" He walked out from behind the bar and started to lead the remaining people (as the cadets had all left) out. They too were grumbling, but still complied.

I put Jim on the floor, since he couldn't sit himself up while on the table. I was afraid he'd fall and hurt himself even more. I went and grabbed the first aid kit and picked up the chairs that fell during the fight. I sat Jim in one and myself in the other.

"Here we are again." I started as I grabbed a cotton ball that had a bit of alcohol and gently started to wipe his bloody face. "After another fight. This time ended better than the others though." He looked at me.

"How?" He asked as he took over the cotton.

"You didn't get hurt that badly and neither did I." I replied as I took a tissue split them in two and stuffed them up his nose where most of his blood came from as he grumbled.

"I guess. I mean other than the bloody face and the cut on your cheek. We're fine." He said once he left the tissue hanging from his nose.

I took my hand and pressed it to my right cheek. Nothing. On the left cheek, on the other hand, I felt slightly sticky liquid. I took my hand away from my cheek to see a scarlet liquid. Blood. "Thanks for the heads up." I said as I put another cotton with alcohol on my cheek. It stung at first, but the sting quickly stopped.

"You're welcome." Jim muttered.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sure they didn't hit your head hard?"

Jim ignored me and caught Lew's attention and asked for a beer. I rolled my eyes and told him I wanted water when he asked if I wanted anything.

That man from earlier who had whistled was gone. I'd seen him approach Lew and then left. Starfleet. He was from Starfleet. That information was starting to sink in. I really now hoped he wasn't a professor or even worse, a captain. I huffed.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked as Lew approached us a with our drinks. Jim and I nodded in thanks, but as he left Lew gave me a look that said 'you better tell him or you'll be in huge trouble'.

I sighed. I guess it was time to tell him. I looked at my watch. It was slightly past two in the morning. How long have we been here?

"Well-" I was interrupted by the man from Starfleet entering (well reentering) the bar. He pulled the chair back from the table and just looked at us.

Apparently in the time we sat there (we weren't there for long, max. maybe half an hour), Lew had picked up the chairs and cleaned the place. Now he was silently mopping near the bar.

"My name is Captain Christopher Pike and I'm from Starfleet." He said at last. We silently stared back at him (well, as well as I could stare from having my hand on my cheek as my elbow was propped on the table). But on the inside I was freaking out. 'Captain Pike. Oh man, no.'

"I couldn't believe when the bartender told me who you two are?" He began the conversation.

'So that's why he was talking to Lew.' I thought

"...and who are we, Captain Pike?" Jim asked. I was thankful as I couldn't speak, and if I did it would've been an octave higher than my normal voice. 'Captain!' was repeating in my head.

"You're father's son...and daughter." He said turning to me. I felt myself turn pale when he did turn to me. He knew. He knew I was leaving in the morning.

Jim didn't notice my sudden paleness though. He had asked for another drink. Pike continued turning his attention to Jim, but addressed us both.

"For my dissertation, I was assigned the U.S.S. Kelvin. Something I admired about your dad...he didn't believe in no-win scenarios."

"He sure learned his lesson." Jim told the captain as he took out the bloodied tissues out of his nose. I glared at Jim from my spot. I knew he was defensive about Dad's death, but that didn't necessarily mean I liked his comments about it. We both knew he was just as affected by it like I was, except he showed it but still.

"Well, it depends on how you define winning. You're both here, aren't you?" The captain asked us, but more to Jim as I hadn't said much. He continued. "That instinct, to leap without looking, that was his nature too, and in my opinion something Starfleet's lost."

Jim scoffed, probably recalling the fight from earlier. I, too, recalled the fight, and I have to say we were better at it. "Why are you talking to us, man?" He asked taking me out of my thoughts.

"I looked up your file while you were drooling on the floor." He emphasised the word 'your'. Jim caught on, but didn't say a thing, for once. "Your aptitude test are off the charts, both of yours." He said as he, once again, turned to me. This time though I wasn't speechless.

"What is it? Do you like being the only genuis level twin repeat-offenders of the Midwest?" He said. I immediately sat up.

"That's mostly him." I said, but Jimmy ignored me by saying "Maybe we love it." I scowled and folded my arms across my chest.

'Most were your ideas, Jim. And I barely get involved.' I thought to myself.

"So your dad dies... you can settle for a less than ordinary life." He paused. "Or do you feel like you're meant for something better? Something special?"

I stared at this man from my seat. He was using words to lure Jim to join Starfleet. Words that I had convinced myself of when I wanted to join, which I already did.

"Enlist in Starfleet." Captain Pike said suddenly drawing me out of my thoughts.

'Wait, what?!'

"Enlist?" Jim scoffed. I glared at him. "You must be way down in your recruiting quota for the month."

"If you were half the man your father ever was, Jim, Starfleet could use you. You could be an officer in four years, and have your own ship in eight." Captain Pike said his full attention on Jim. Jim sighed through his bloody nose

"You know what the federation is, don't you? It's important." The captain said.

"Captain Pike, I'm not so sure he understands what the federation is, to be quite honest." I said. Jim turned to me giving me a glare. I glared at him back before turning back to the captain, whose eyes were trained on both of us before addressing Jim and ignoring my statement. "It's a peace keeping and humanitarian armada." He started before Jim interrupted.

"Are we done?" He was getting anxious.

"I'm done." The captain said sensing all he could do here was done. Jim nodded slightly before drinking his drink and Captain Pike got up.

"Shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow at 0800. You know where." He told me. I nodded in understanding as one of Jim's eyebrows rose. "Your father was a Captain of a Starship for twelve minutes. He saved 801 lives. Including your mother's, sister's, and yours. I dare you to do better." The captain looked at Jim for one last time, before giving me a small smile and leaving.

Jim grabbed the salt shaker that was in the shape of a Starship and started to mindlessly shake it, letting salt fall out.

It seems that Captain Pike's last words about Dad and daring him seemed to do the trick. Maybe...but it did get him to think and I could give him that extra push he needed in order to make a decision.

"Dad did save our lives, and mom's. I really think you can do it in less than four years." I told him still staring at the empty spot across from us.

"Which part?" He asked still shaking the saltshaker.

"Both." I replied looking at him.


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you mean?" He asked after several minutes of silence.

"You know what I mean." I said coolly.

"Why?"

"Because I have confidence and trust in you."

He stayed quiet. He put down the saltshaker, and shook his head. "What did Captain Pike mean by 'you know where'?" He asked.

I sighed. I knew this was going to come up sooner or later. I didn't want to tell him like this, but now I've got no other alternative. "I know where the shuttle is located, Jim." I said slowly.

"How?" He asked carefully, almost as if he didn't want the answer.

"Well, one thing for sure, you're thinking." I tried to joke to ease the tension and possibly change the subject. This time it didn't work.

"Don't do that to me, Lil. How do you know about it?"

"Because he told me."

"When?"

"These questions aren't gonna stop are they?" Jim sent me a small glare, before I carried on. "He told me about a week and a half ago. After I agreed to join Starfleet."

"Is this why you asked me that question two weeks ago?" He had his eyes closed.

"Yes." I said after a long period of silence. "But I didn't break my promise."

"I know. I kind of was expecting this, anyway." He replied.

"How?" It was my turn to interrogate.

"You really didn't think I'd see you look wistfully into the night sky, right? I know you're slightly smarter than me, but I can still see." He paused. "You get that look. It's clear on your face. It says you dream of going into space." He faced me and sighed.

"I know that you wanted to go to space, and I'm okay with it. Surprisingly."

I looked at him in surprise. I never really thought he, my brother, could see my fascination with space. Much less be okay with it.

"Can I tell you something?" He whispered. I nodded my head, since I couldn't trust my voice to speak. "I... I know I'm not the best sibling out there. But I do know that after all this time, you deserve to do what you want and not stick by me." I looked at him with a straight face as he looked straight at me.

"It's my turn." I sighed deeply before exhaling. "I want to say thanks, first for supporting me through this even if it hurts you. Secondly, I want to say that you should come with me, Jim." He looked surprised. "Dad, I believe was like you."

I knew that it was a sore subject for us, but I had to tell him if I was going to convince him to come with me.

"You may not see it, but you have more of him than I do. We may be twins, but you have that quality that you both share." He didn't looked quite convinced, so I decided to edge him on further.

"You heard Captain Pike. Dad was Captain for twelve minutes and he saved Mom's, yours' and my life. He sacrificed himself in order to let his crew and family live."

I searched his eyes for anything. A sign that told me he understood. "I believe you'd do the same thing he did, if you were in his place. You would sacrifice yourself in order to save many more lives."

Jim's POV

"And no matter what, even if you tell me to go and leave. I'll never leave your side. I'll always be there and I'll never leave." Lily wrapped up her rallying speech and I'll admit, it got me a bit teary. I looked down at the table.

She knew how important she is to me. The only relative that has stuck by me. I know I'm impulsive and get us in a lot of trouble, but she stuck by me anyway. She didn't leave for a college or anything, and it's been a couple of years since we graduated.

When Captain Pike brought up our dad and how he saved 801 lives, I started to rethink about enlisting in Starfleet. Lily is leaving for Starfleet. So my options are to stay alone here in Iowa and continue my semi-normal life or enlist and become an officer.

I needed some time alone and review my decisions. "I'll be back. I need to go clean up a bit." Lily nodded.

"I'm going to settle some issues." She replied as I got up. I walked to the restroom. Where else am I going to have intelligent thoughts and think this enough thoroughly?

As I entered the bright lighted room, I had to squint for a while as my eyes quickly got used to the differences of light. It was slightly darker in the rest of the bar than in here. I reached the sink and leaned on it, while looking at my reflection.

My face had dried blood, especially around my nose. I took a worse beating than Lily. All she got were several bruises on her side and that long cut in her left cheek. Not to mention that bruise on her other cheek that she hasn't noticed at all. It probably didn't hurt as when she checked earlier, she didn't wince or in all honesty, she does have a better defense than I ever have.

As I stared at my reflection, I moved my head around to see if I got any other injuries. Just a couple of specks of dried blood here and there, but not many other injuries. Probably a few bruises on my body, but I wasn't going to worry about those.

I turned on the faucet and water came out. I grabbed some paper towels and soaked them in the running water. After that, I squeezed the remaining water out of the paper towel.

I watched the water swirl around the drain before going down it. My life has always been a swirl. A swirl of trouble. I knew I was smart. Incredibly smart. Something that wasn't likely among our family.

I knew I could do something with my intelligence, but that was more of Lily's thing than mine. I was the troublemaker between the two. I used my intelligence to make trouble, although most times it was just me flirting with girls that caused the trouble.

I had the courage and bravery. Sure, Lily has those qualities too, but...she doesn't use them to her full potential. She doesn't realise that. I, on the other hand...

"Captain Kirk." I said aloud staring at my slightly cleaner face in the mirror. I smiled. "I could get used to that." I'd made my decision.

I'm going with Lily. Besides I can keep an eye on her, while I'm at it. Keep any potential boyfriends away. Or beat them up if they cause problems.

It's a win-win situation.

Lily's POV

After Jim left , I went to Lew who was still cleaning up.

"Hey. Sorry about earlier." I said to Lew once I was in hearing distance.

Lew looked up at me from his spot. He looked sad. He really was going to miss me. "Its fine. You guys didn't make much of a mess this time." He replied before looking back down.

I pulled out the keys to my bike from one of my pockets. Its gotta worth something right? I placed them on the counter. Lew, hearing the rattle of the keys, looked up. His eyes went wide. I pushed them towards him. He shook his head.

"No way! No way, Lily! I can't take it! It's yours! Not mine!" He pushed the keys back in my direction.

"Well, I'm giving them to you. Mostly because I have to do something about the mess, and secondly I want you to have it. It's going to be more useful in your hands than mine. I'm leaving, so I won't need it anymore." I explained to him.

"You don't have to give me anything. This last one wasn't started by you guys. I can't accept this."

"Well then, the bike is just going to sit out there until either you take it or you sell it to someone. It's not mine, anymore." I replied.

Lew grumbled. "Fine," he said at last as he grabbed the keys. "I'm keeping your bike. I'm saving it for you. For when you come back."

'I don't think I am coming back.' I thought, but I never actually said it. It would just crush Lew. Instead I just nodded.

"Just use the bike, Lew. I'm giving it to you. I won't need it for much longer."

"Then how are you going to get to the place you need to go?" He asked.

"Jim's bike. I'll hop on behind him." Lew nodded, seeing it as a fit answer. He then did a double take.

"He's leaving too?!" He practically screamed. I shook my head.

"I don't know, he hasn't made a decision. But either way he's probably going to say goodbye." Just then Jim walked back out, his face slightly cleaner.

"Ready?" He called out. I held up my hand telling him just a minute. He nodded, and said "I'll wait outside."

After he left, I extended my hand at Lew. He eyed it before shaking it. "Wish me luck." I told him. He smiled, and I left him behind the counter.

I was walking slowly out of the bar, trying to remember this place and all of the people who show up here. All of the fights I've had here, mostly because of Jim. All of the times Jim has been slapped because his flirting became very vulgar, especially as he increased his alcohol intake. My friendship with Lew. Memories, some of which I will treasure.

I reached Jim who was by his own bike waiting for me. When I stood next to him, I turned and looked at the building. "I'm going to miss this place." I told Jim.

"So will I. I had many good fights here." He said. I snorted, then realisation caught up with me.

"You're coming with?" He nodded and I hugged him from the side. "Good to know. Give me a lift?"

"What happened to your bike?" He asked as he got on.

"Gave it to Lew. As payment for the damages we did in that last fight, and I have no use for it anymore." I replied as I got on behind him. Jim nodded.

"You said Riverside Shipyard, right?"

"Yep. This ride might take a while."

"You got that right." He responded. He started the bike and I wrapped my arms around him. It's not weird, he's my brother.

We passed cornfields and farms as we headed in the direction we were going. Silence between the both of us. It was peaceful. Unnerving, of course, seeing as we were about to give up our lives and start somewhere else but peaceful all the same. We were several miles away, but we could see the shipyard.

They were constructing a ship. Jim came to a stop. I looked over his shoulder. "Woah." Was all I said. We were both admiring the ship, but only I was the only one to voice what was on our minds. I gapped at enormity of the ship. It was huge and beautiful. One of the most amazing things I've seen in my life.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked Jim still admiring the structure of the ship. "There's no turning back from this point."

"I'm not turning back." He responded.

"Let's go then." Jim drove off towards the shipyard.

By the time we arrived, it was sunny out and it was morning. We came in through the gates. I could see Captain Pike's back from this distance. He was heading inside, probably thought we were a no show, even though I told him I'd come.

When he heard the rev of bike, he turned around from the entrance of the shuttle. He smiled when he saw Jim and I, but especially Jim. I hopped off when the bike came to a stop.

A construction worker came by and was admiring the bike. "Nice ride, man." He told Jim. Jim killed the bike and tossed the keys to the man, catching him off guard.

"She's all yours." Jim saw Pike he walks up next to him. "Four years? I can do it in three." And he climbed into the shuttle. Pike looked over at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"I just want to become an officer." I said before following Jim. He was standing by the entrance looking at all the cadets with an eager and confidence look on his face. He walked on, but didn't seem to see the low beam.

"Jim, watch out for-" he hit his head on the beam. "Never mind." I muttered. He looked a bit embarrassed but continued to walk into the shuttle from looking for seats. He passed the cadets from the fight.

"At ease gentlemen." He told them. They gave him a murderous glare.

"Watch your backs." I told them as I passed them. I don't know how they reacted as I just kept looking forward. Jim found empty seats near a bathroom. He sat and I took the one to his left, leaving an empty seat beside me. I started to strap myself in. Jim fumbled around trying to put on the straps. He gave me a small smile, out of embarrassment.

After he managed to strap himself in, he saw Uhura. "I never did get that first name." He told her.

She grinned his way before saying "And you never will."

I shook my head. I was about to make a sarcastic comment to Jim when we heard a commotion come from the bathroom.

"I already told you! I don't need a doctor! I am a doctor!" The man who was being led out of the bathroom said.

The lady officer responded with "You need to find a seat-" before she was cut off by the man.

"I had one in the bathroom with no windows!"

"Sir, for your safety-"

"I suffer from aviophobia, it means 'fear of dying in something that flies'."

The woman ignored him and practically yelled in order to be heard over his rambling. "Sit down or I'll make you sit down!"

They glared at each other for a few seconds before the man gave up and took the only spot available (well in sight anyway), next to me. He strapped himself in before talking to me.

"I might throw up on you." He warned me.

"I think these things are pretty safe." Jim replied looking a bit worried, while leaning forward to see the man. I sat still in my seat, but occasionally glanced at the man that suffered from aviophobia.

"Don't pander with me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds - solar flare might crop up, cook us all in our seats. And wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence." The man finished his monologue. Jim looked a bit creeped out, on the other hand I was impressed.

"I hate to break it to you, but Starfleet operates in space." I butted in the conversation as I turned to get a good look at the man. He's good looking. Black hair. He has facial hair. Brown eyes.

"Yeah, well, the ex-wife took the whole goddamn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones." Jim and I exchanged looks and I raised an eyebrow as the man took a drink from a small flask. He seemed not to notice that it was my voice that responded, but he still turned my way.

He offered me his flask, which I took and handed to Jim. He needed the drink, he was nervous. You couldn't tell, but he was. Especially after what the man had said about space.

"Jim Kirk" Jimmy said holding up the flask, then taking a drink along with a small smile on his face, relieved to get a drink.

"McCoy. Leonard McCoy." He replied and then turned to me.

"Lily." Was all I said. McCoy looked amused.

"My sister." Came the voice of the one person, who is overprotective when it comes to men, my dear brother, Jim.

"Well, then Lily. Nice to meet you." He said extending his hand to me. I shook it.

"Pleasure meeting you as well, McCoy." I said. I heard Jim sigh softly in relief. I looked forward after Captain Pike announced that the shuttle was leaving.

I was excited. Adventures are to be made in Starfleet. Even in the Academy. Who knows maybe I'll be part of something great and maybe I'll find the answers to some of the greatest mysteries of my life.

Yay! Another update after who knows how long. So anyway to answer your question Guest, there will be some platonic Spock/Lily but no more than that. She might have a romace developing later on, but not with Spock. She views him almost as another sibling would be a better way of explaining their relationship.


	4. Chapter 4

"Do you have any idea why they called us down to an assembly?" I asked Leo as the three of us sat down next to each other.

"No idea, but I don't like it." He responded wearily.

"Jim?" I turned to my brother who sat to my right.

Jim's shoulders looked relaxed. He sat as if he didn't have a care in the world. He seemed not at all worried about the assembly we were currently in.

"Do you have a clue as to why we're here?" I whispered to him. I had a hunch it was probably due to Jim passing the Kobayashi Maru test, but I'm not sure if it's good or bad. Either way, I wasn't looking forward to it.

"No, but if they're going to congratulate me on being the first one to pass the Kobayashi Maru test then yes I will welcome congratulations." Jim said a grin growing on his face. I wanted to hit him behind the head or something, but instead I shook my head since Admiral Barnett announced attention.

"This session has been called to solve a troubling matter."

'Troubling? Oh no.' I thought as the Admiral said "James T. Kirk, step forward." One of my fears and dreams came true: Jim got in trouble. I would ask what for, but as I mentioned before I had a hunch.

Jim looked at Leo and I, with a confused/weary look, before he stood to stand behind a podium in the front. I could feel eyes not only on Jim, but on me as well. Most of the cadets present in the assembly knew that I related to Jim. But for sure, all knew that Jim has a sister who also attends the Academy. All of smart to enough to put that together, I suspect.

"Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to regulation 1, 7. 4, 3 of the Starfleet code." By this time James had reached the podium and was standing behind it. "Is there anything you would like to say before we begin, sir?" Admiral Barnett asked Jim.

"Yes, I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly." Jim stated calmly. In the audience, to the far left of my vision, but was actually across the aisle from where Leo and I sat, an officer stood up. A strangely familiar pointy eared officer. Spock. Although this didn't surprise me a tiny bit.

He was Spock. Of course he'd tell the board if someone did something wrong. Like cheating, which is what Jim did. But how, is the correct question.

Spock walked down and took his spot in the podium next to James after the admiral asked him to step forward. "This is Commander Spock. He is one of our most distinguished graduates." The admiral introduced Spock to the audience and Jim, except well I already knew that so...

"He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru test for the last four years." The admiral provided more information, which I also already knew, to the audience.

Jim eyed Spock, but Spock, after giving Jim a quick look over, paid no mind to the cadet next to him and chose to face the Board. I could feel the tension in the room change as they stood next to each other. Although both are intelligent, they each show it differently, way differently.

"Commander?" Admiral Barnett signaled to Spock so he could commence.

"Cadet Kirk, you somehow managed to install and activate a subroutine in the programming code, thereby changing the conditions of the test." Spock enlightened the entire room with his even tone.

'So that's how the buffoon did it!' I thought.

"Your point being?" James said obviously knowing where that was going.

"In academic vernacular, you cheated." The Admiral answered for Spock. The entire room erupted in loud whispers, and I could feel the stares, once again, from all different points in the room.

"Can you believe that?" Asked a girl in the seat behind me.

"I heard his sister did something twice as bad, and was expelled. That's why she's not here." Responded another girl.

Obviously they had no idea who I was and where I was in the present moment. I'm not sure why I wanted to, but I was about to turn around and give them a piece of my fist, and at least my mind, but was stopped by Leo who placed his hand on my lower arm.

He heard the comment as well and was warning me. Those who know James and I, knew we looked alike but were completely different. Sort of. Maybe. Not really. Not completely different just a little bit different. But I'd still defend him and myself, but mostly him. And I know he'd do the same.

I exhaled and inhaled while the room quieted down slightly and Leo looking at me to make sure I wouldn't turn around and do something that would get me in a lot of trouble. Like punching a fellow cadet in the face multiple times. Even if they deserved it. I nodded towards Leo in gratitude and letting him know I was alright as the discussion continued.

"Let me ask you something, I think we all know the answer to," James was getting started to argue with the Vulcan despite the fact that he had no advantage. "The test itself is a cheat, isn't it? I mean you programmed it to be un-winnable." Except for that, even though James cheated he did have a point.

"Your argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenerio." Spock said with his hands behind his back, like always, and his voice monotonous and not nervous at all.

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios." James replied, reminding me of what Pike said about our dad 3 years ago in the bar. The room was silent to the point where you could hear James's voice bounce off the walls.

"Then not only did you violate the rules, you have also failed to understand the principle lesson." Spock said in turn to James's reply.

"Please, enlighten me." James faced Spock waiting for his immediate response.

"You of all people should know, Cadet Kirk, a captain cannot cheat death." And he went to go pick at that scab.

As soon as Spock uttered those words, I sat still and upright against the seat as the remainder of the room was deadly quiet. Either they didn't know what Spock was talking about or they were just as surprised as me. Right now was one of those times when I really wanted to hurt the Vulcan.

I gripped the seat's arms, and in response I felt a hand on top of mine. For a moment I freaked out thinking that the seat I was in came to life, until I looked over to see what or who it was. I had completely forgotten that Leo was sitting next to me. His eyes looked back at me with concern. I visibly calmed down, sinking into my seat, and grabbed his hand, giving it a small squeeze and getting one in return.

I looked at Jim, I was worried for him. He was staring down at the podium before quickly glancing up and locking eye contact with me. Making sure 'I' was okay. I nodded and he looked up at the Vulcan, who saw where Jim's line of view was set upon. He didn't react when he held eye contact with me momentarily, but he knew I was upset.

"I of all people?" Jim asked staring down at the podium once again then looking up at the Vulcan for a nth time.

"Yours and Cadet Lillian Kirk's father, Lieutenant George Kirk assumed command of his vessel before being killed in action, did he not?" I sunk lower in my seat when I heard my name. Several friends and classmates looked in my direction.

Not many people knew of my connection to my dear Vulcan mentor, neither did they know we formed a close friendship. So it did hurt far more than it should have.

Not only was I feeling hurt about my dad (that generally being a bad subject to talk about), but the betrayal of a friend whom I was close to. Spock knew it was a touchy subject for me. He wanted to make a point, but along with that he got an emotional reaction from me.

"I don't think you like the fact I beat your test." Jim said going back to his old self.

"Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test." Spock ignored Jim's comment.

"Enlighten me again." Jim replied.

"The purpose is to experience fear," Spock started. "Fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear, and maintain control of oneself and one's crew. This quality is expected in every Starfleet captain."

I sat in my seat thinking about what Spock said. Jim has that quality, he doesn't experience much fear. Really the only fear that I know of that he has is losing his family, which consists of Leo and I for the most part. If he was in Dad's situation, he'd probably do the same thing Dad did but this time I'd be at his side, no matter what.

My thoughts were interrupted by another commander entering the room saying an "Excuse me" as he walked through the room and towards Admiral Barnett, who took the data pad with a nod and looked at it, absorbing the information it contained. He set it down in an urgent manner, and when he spoke his tone sounded urgent as well.

"We've received a distress call from Vulcan," at this point Spock's head turned to the admiral. "With our primary fleet in the Larentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hanger One immediately. Dismissed."

At once cadets from all parts of the room got up and began to file out of the assembly room. Leo and I walked down to where Jim was. He was looking at Spock who walked briskly away out of the assembly room and toward Hangar One.

"Who was that pointy eared bastard?" Jim asked Leo and I.

"That was Commander Spock, apparently he is a distinguished graduate and has programmed the Kobayashi Maru test for the last four years." I replied in a serious tone, though my face said something different. I didn't want to tell my brother he just argued with my mentor, mostly because I was still upset with the Commander about what had happened.

Jim gave me a look, that read 'Really? Now?', and turned to Leo, as I huffed in response. "I don't know, but I like him." Leo gave Jim a pointed look before looking to see me grinning from Jim's reaction.

"Come on, we need to get going." I told them as I pushed them along to go with the remaining cadets, out of the room and towards Hangar One.

"Fugeman, Regula One! Gerace, U.S.S. Farragut! McCoy, U.S.S. Enterprise! McGrath, U.S.S. Wolcott! Rader, U.S.S. Hood!" Yelled the Commander to be heard over all the noise in the hangar. "Welcome to Starfleet. Godspeed."

He walked away just as a flood of red soon surrounded us before spreading out in all different directions

"He didn't call my name." Jim said suddenly as Leo, him, and I were left alone.

"I didn't hear mine either. There are downfalls to having the same last name as you." I told Jim, but he ignored my jab as we walked over to the Commander. Jim spoke.

"Commander? Sir, you didn't call my name. Kirk, James T."

"And Kirk, Lillian K." I added as I reached the Commander who was looking at a control pad, that stood by a shuttle, as he replied.

"Kirk, James T., you're on academic suspension. That means you're grounded until the Academy Board says," turned to me and looked at his data pad. "Kirk, Lillian K., U.S.S. Enterprise." He walked away before I could reply.

'No!' I thought. 'This all has to be his doing. I specifically told him not to.' I sighed and heard Leo say: "Most likely." Probably telling him how the Board will rule in his favour. Well…'most likely'.

Leo looked behind him and saw the shuttle, how people were starting to get on board. He sighed. "Look Jim, I gotta go." It was silent between the two of them for a short while.

"Yeah. Yeah, you go. Be safe." Jim said after he nodded. He saw the look on my face. "I'll be fine, really now go." I didn't want to go but now I had no choice. I had to go for Jim. Or not. I could always stay behind. No, I had to go, for Jim's sake.

I nodded just as the two guys shook hands. Leo and I walked away side by side. I closed my eyes tight. I huffed then stretched my arm across this chest to stop him. It worked and we stood in place facing each other.

"I can't stand it. Either we both go or neither of us do. Do what you have to, but get him on the ship. Besides he looks pathetic just standing there. Don't worry, I'll save you some seats. Thanks." I told him leaving no room for discussion as we were running out of time and I was walking away. I could hear him say, "Damn it."

I stalked off in search of a certain Commander for an explanation. When I spotted the said commander, I could see Nyota talking to him, probably the exact opposite situation of mine. As soon as I saw Nyota walk away, I approached my mentor.

"Ah, Lieutenant," he said when he spotted me. Wow, not cadet but Lieutenant. Hard to believe it already.

'Focus, Lily, focus!' I told myself.

"I would like to-" Spock began before I cut him off.

"Save it." I put up a hand. "What happened, happened. You said what you said, no use getting emotional over it now," I paused, I didn't really believe what I had said. I was upset and angry but I wasn't going to tell him. "But I do have a peg to deal with you."

One of Spock's eyebrow cocked up in curiosity, and possibly confusion by the phrase I just used. I continued. "Why, may I ask Commander, am I assigned to the Enterprise? Nothing against the captain or the ship itself, she's a beauty, the ship not the captain, but why am I assigned to the Enterprise? I thought we had an agreement." I was almost practically ranting, but that didn't stop me from showing my displeasure with the situation.

Spock didn't say anything. He remained silent, looking intently into my face. "You're my best friend and I really wouldn't trade you for anything, but you've got to understand-" I got interrupted by an alarm going off nearby signaling lift off was soon. Spock took advantage of the situation and talked.

"Lily," It was weird to hear him call me Lily. "You have yet to finish your studies. Though you are now a lieutenant, I thought it would be wise to continue them. We are also on a mission to help Vulcan, my home planet. This will not only be beneficial for you, but I will have my brightest student and my friend at my side." He responded as we headed over to the shuttle.

He never got emotional, so it's hard for Nyota and their relationship, but I understand that he needs a friend at his side in a time like this and to be fair he did have a point, like usual.

"I thought Nyota was your brightest student?" I asked him as we reached the shuttle. He stopped and faced me.

"In a way, yes, Nyota is my brightest student. You study science, Nyota studies xenolingistics. Those two are different in their own right." He said. "Nyota performs excellently in her studies as do you, but I am your mentor and I am her teacher. They are different."

"Not so much, Commander, they are similar. You are my teacher and you are my mentor. You are also my friend. Do not forget that. I'll see you on board." I said as I walked away and headed over to my section on the shuttle.

I looked for Leo and Jim, spotting them near the back of the shuttle. I sat down behind Leo who was next to Jim. Leo had a window seat and so did I.

I leaned forward to ask Leo a question. "What did you do to him?" After seeing my brother sweating like a pig.

"Just as you told me. Bring him on board." He retorted.

"What did you give him?"

Leo got this sort of far away look as if he were remembering. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Earlier...

Bones' s POV

After Lily left me to do who knows what, I turned around to see Jim. "Damn it." I said. Lily had a point, about Jim, hiding somewhere in her command to me. He looked pathetic standing there. I walked up to him and grabbed his arm to make sure he was following me.

"Bones, where are we going?" Asked Jim as we passed other personnel that were running about.

"You'll see." I tugged him in the direction of the med bay.

"What are you doing?" Jim couldn't keep quiet as we walked inside of med bay as I looked for something.

"Doing you a favour." I replied looking through a rack of viles. "I couldn't just leave you there, looking all pathetic," I told him.

'Besides your sister asked me to.' I thought.

I grabbed a red vile, and told Jim to take a seat as I approached him. Jim sat at the edge of a bed. "I'm gonna give you a vaccine against viral infection from the Melvaran mud fleas" I told him. I began to put the vile in the hypo so I could give Jim the vaccine. I then procceded to give him the vaccine on the side of his neck when he wasn't paying attention.

"Ow! What was that for?" Jim questioned as he flared his arms around after I had injected the vaccine.

"Giving you the symptoms." I replied as I went through other cabinets and racks.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're gonna start to lose vision in your left eye," I told Jim a symptom he should be feeling at the current moment as I kept looking for medicine.

"Yeah, I already have." Jim responded. Good. He's fine.

"Oh, and you're gonna get a really bad headache and flop sweat." I replied.

"You call this a favour?" Jim asked incredulously.

"Yeah, you me owe one." I told Jim as I thought 'and so does Lily.'

I helped Jim up and dragged him to the shuttle that would take us to the Enterprise. As we got closer an officer saw us and scanned Jim to see who it was I was carrying.

"Kirk, James T." He said then turned to me when we reached him. "He is not cleared for duty aboard the Enterprise."

Thank goodness I know the medical codes that Lily made me remember back in our first year. "Medical code states the treatment and transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of his attending physician, which is me." I retorted.

"So I'm taking Mr. Kirk aboard. Or would you like to explain to Captain Pike why the Enterprise warped into a crisis without one of its senior medical officers?" I told him coldly. Jim was groaning at my side.

The officer, after a few moments of silence broken once by an alarm going off, deciding to not get into trouble told me, "As you were."

We walked off, but not before I muttered "As you were." to the officer. We walked inside, and I looked for Lily. She wasn't there.

'So much for saving us seats.' I thought as I dragged Jim to a row of empty seats that were next to each other. Shortly after Lily appeared taking the seat behind me, which just happened to be vacant.

Present...

Lily's POV

"Nothing bad." Leo told me. "Just some symptoms."

I raised an eyebrow, even though he couldn't see me. "What kind of symptoms?" I asked him.

"Viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas." He replied not at all worried.

I sighed, but before I could question Leo any further, and possibly even be angry or something, I heard Jim say: "I might throw up on you."

I looked outside the window as I thought a way to possibly seriously injure my doctor friend. Something far more interesting and beautiful caught my attention though. "Leo? Jim? Look." I said breathlessly.

I wasn't an engineer, but even I had to say that the Enterprise, up close, was a beauty to behold. Even from afar it was beautiful, yet it was much more beautiful up close. And we were going on board.

Once the shuttle landed in the Enterprise, we had to wait for everyone else to get off. Leo and I proceeded to take Jim off the shuttle and toward med bay. As we dragged a semiconscious Jim, I kept an eye out. For what I dunno.

"It's the pointy eared bastard." Leo said as we took a different path than the one Commander Spock was taking, in order to not be sent with Jim. Seeing Spock reminded me...

"I'll see you in med bay, I need to change." I told Leo who just nodded that he understood and off I went to change into the blue dress.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As much as I despised dresses, it was a mandatory thing to wear for females, so I've got no other option. I walked down the hallways of the Enterprise heading towards med bay. I knew Leo would take Jim for an antibiotic or something.

Just as I entered med bay, Leo gave Jim something and Jim, like the little kid he is, yelped in pain. I noticed Jim was wearing a black shirt and pants, so Leo must've changed him.

Jim said something inaudible and suddenly slumped back onto the bed. As I got closer, I could see Leo shake his head.

"Unbelievable." He mutters.

"How long is he out?" I asked Leo as he pulled the curtain across so that no one will see him.

"Not long. Give him a few minutes and he'll be fine." Leo responded as he started moving around me. "I'm going to put on my uniform now. Keep an eye on him, if you want." I nodded and off Leo went.

I went behind the curtain and sat on the edge of Jim's bed, waiting for him to wake up.

Meanwhile, in the bridge...

3rd POV

"The fleet has cleared spacedock, Captain. All ships ready for warp. " Said a man in a yellow shirt to Captain Pike who sat in the chair.

"Set a course for Vulcan. " Answered the captain.

"Aye-Aye, Captain. Course laid in. " Replied the man.

"Maximum warp. Punch it. " Said Pike.

As all the ships, one by one, went of to Vulcan...only one was left behind. The Enterprise.

On the bridge everyone is looking at the man sitting in the helmsman position. Pike looks at him with confusion. He leans forward putting a hand to his chin as the man is looking around the controls.

"Lieutenant, where is Helmsman McKenna?" Pike said slowly.

The lieutenant kept try to figure out what went wrong as he spoke. "He has lungworms, sir. He couldn't report to his post." He swiveled in his chair facing the captain. "I'm Hikaru Sulu."

"And you are a pilot, right?" Said Pike messing with Sulu.

"Very much so, sir." Sulu answers as he faces the controls again. "I'm, uh, I'm not sure what's wrong here." He mutters.

"Is the parking brake on?" Pike asked. Sulu almost laughs.

"Uh, no. I'll figure it out. I'm just..." Sulu is interrupted by the Vulcan second in command.

"Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?" He raised an eyebrow.

Sulu looks at the controls and puts a grim look on his face suddenly. He corrected his mistake and leaned back.

"Ready for warp, sir." He said.

"Let's punch it." Pike repeated and off went the Enterprise. Out to Vulcan and the unknown.

A few minutes passed after Pike had ordered to head out to Vulcan. "Engines at maximum warp, sir." Sulu said.

"Russian whiz kid. What your name again? Chanko? Cherpov?" Pike asked the young new ensign that sat beside Sulu. The Russian whiz kid swirled his chair to face the captain.

"Ensign Chekov, Pavel Andreievich, sir." The ensign responded.

"Fine, Chekov, Pavel Andreievich: begin shipwide mission broadcast." Pike ordered the young Chekhov.

"Yes sir. Happy to." He answers then pulls up the activation code sequence. "Ensign Authorisation code: nine-five-wictor-wictor-two!"

"Authorization is not recognized." States the computer as Chekhov groans.

"Ensign Authorisation code:," he begins again. "Nine-five-victor-victor-two." He strained to get the 'v' sound out. The computer bleeps and he begins the broadcast.

Back at med bay...

Lily's POV

I sat on James's bed, when I heard a new voice fill med bay. "May I have your attention please?" I looked at the screen that was above Jim's bed. There was a guy. He looked young and he speaked with a Russian accent. Must be that Russian whiz kid, Spock talked about last week, Chekhov, I think.

The curtain suddenly was pulled back and I turned around to see Leo moving around the bed. "Has he made any moves or said anything?" He asked me.

"No, just laying there asleep. How much did you give him?" I asked Leo.

"Not much. Maybe he'll be out of it for a while longer." Leo responded as he went back to doing some other doctor stuff.

"...lightning storm in space." I heard as Leo left. Lighting storm.

'Why did that sound so familiar?' Then it hit me. Dad. Everything came back to him. If there's a lightning storm then there must be an attack. Just like what happened to the USS Kelvin.

"Lightning storm!" Jim sat up on the bed. He gasped.

"Lightning storm." I repeated numbly.

"Ah, Jim you're awake. How do you feel?" Leo said and looked down. "Good, God man!"

Jim looked down at his hands then raised them up in the air. "What the hell's this?" He asked. His hands were huge.

Jim got up and went to one of the computers near us as Leo asked for medicine for Jim. "Okay, why now?" I asked as he sped past the beginning of the mission broadcast.

"I don't know."

"...Appeared to be a lightning storm in space." Jim paused the broadcast there and turned to Leo grabbing his face, stopping him from continuing his scan on Jim.

"We've gotta stop the ship." Jim said. I ran out of med bay and towards a computer that could locate Uhura with Jim and Leo on my heels.

"Jim, I'm not kidding, you gotta keep your heart rate down!" Leo said as we ran around a corner and located a computer.

"Computer, locate crew member Uhura." I told it as Jim looked over my shoulder and Leo kept scanning Jim.

"I haven't seen a reaction this bad since med school." Leo stated, but I ignored it. I got the location to where Uhura was.

"Jim, we're flying into a trap." I said and ran toward the location the computer told me.

As we entered the monitoring station, Leo yelled. "Damn it, you two! Stay still!" We stopped then I heard a cry next to me. I turned my head to see Leo retracting a hypo from Jim's neck. I almost wanted to laugh at Jim's face.

"Stop it!" Jim told Leo and glared at him quickly before we went off again.'

We dodged people and bumped into some others, before spotting Uhura. "Uhura, Uhura!" I yelled to get her attention.

"Lily!" She said when she spotted me. "Kirk?!" She questioned when she saw my brother. "What are you two doing here? Why is he here?" Uhura aimed the last question towards me.

"Transmission from the Klingon prison planet, what exactly did it say?" Jim and I asked simultaneously, it tends to happen at times. Uhura looked at Jim's hands, which he used to get her attention.

"Oh my God, what's wrong with your hands?" She asked ignoring his question and staring at his hands.

"Uh, allergic reaction, I think, but that's not what we wanted to ask you." I stated rather quickly, I almost didn't understand what came out of my mouth.

"Who is responsible for the Klingon attack?" Jim asked right afterwards. "And was the ship...?" He said something unintelligible. I turned my head to stare at Jim in confusion.

"Was the ship what?" Uhura asked. She also had trouble understanding what he was saying.

Jim turned to Leo as I slowly asked Uhura the question. "He means was the ship Romulan?"

"Romulan?" She repeats, staring at Jim's hands and probably a bit confused about everything in general.

I can hear Jim say, "Numb tongue?". Well, I think that's what he was saying. Then I remembered the urgency of the situation.

"Yes, Romulan. Was the ship Romulan?" My tone was urgent.

"Yes." She responded, although it sounded like a question.

"Yes?" I asked again.

"Yes." She said more confidently.

"Yes!" I almost yelled.

"Damn it!" Jim yelled, probably from a vaccine Leo gave him, but I didn't care. I grabbed Jim's hand, running out of the monitoring station and towards the bridge with Leo and Uhura hot on our heels.

"Jim! Lily!" Leo yelled as we rounded a corner with Jim in the lead, pulling me. We kept going not stopping, and not warning people as they came down the hallways. They simply pushed themselves to the wall or got out of the way.

"What's going on?" Uhura asked us, but none of us answered.

"Jim, Lily, come back." Leo said as we neared the bridge entrance. Both of us still ignored him, Jim still pulling me through the halls.

"Kirk!" Uhura said as we went through the entrance. I wasn't so sure who she was talking to.

All four of us entered the bridge, and stopped one behind the other. "Captain! Captain Pike, sir," Jim said as he stopped right by Pike. Pike stood up from his seat. "We have to stop the ship."

"Kirk, how the hell did you get on board the Enterprise?" Of course, that's what Pike would focus on and not the 'trying to save the ship' part.

"Captain, this man is under the influence of a..." Bones started just as Jim and I both said "Bones, please."

"-severe reaction to a vaccine." He finished his last statement. "He's completely delusional and I take full responsibility." He added.

"Vulcan is not a experiencing a natural disaster, it's being attacked by Romulans." Jim insisted.

"Romulans? Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day...McCoy, take him back to medical. We'll have words later." Pike ordered.

"Aye captain." Bones said, nodding before trying to grab hold of Jim.

"Sir, that same anomaly..." Jim started before being interrupted by a very annoying second in command.

"Mr. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel, captain." Spock commented. Yeah, I was still angry at him over the whole 'reopening of a wound because I talked about your dead dad' thing. I decided to step up for my brother and myself. Not to mention our evidence.

"But I am. Nor am I delusional." I said and walked out in front of Jim and up to the Captain and his second in command before Bones could hold me back. I turned to Pike. "Look, sir, as my brother was stating-" Once again Spock interrupted.

"I can also remove the lieutenant." I was going to be nice and amiable, but he was pushing it. Really pushing it. Maybe letting Bones keep me back was a good idea after all.

"Try it!" I yelled. "This lieutenant and that cadet are trying to save the bridge."

"By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?" He asked furious at my face. Well...he was probably furious. Emotionless alien, remember.

"Look, I understand how important this is to you, Commander, but yes. We have to stop. We aren't going to a rescue mission, we're landing into a trap." I stated with confidence.

"Based on what facts?" Spock questioned.

"That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we saw today, also occurred on the day of my birth." I said before Jim cleared his throat. "Sorry, our birth. That was before a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin."

I turned to Pike. "You know that, sir. I've read your dissertation, multiple times." Pike's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "That ship, which had formidable and advanced weaponry was never seen or heard from again." I finished quietly.

"The Kelvin was attacked on the edge of Klingon space. And at 2300 hours last night there was an attack. 47 Klingon war birds destroyed by Romulans, sir. And it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship." I said taking up confidence after I had swiped away the thought of the Kelvin.

"And you know of this Klingon attack how?" Pike asked, the concern his features showed once I had started to go quiet, gone.

Throughout my statements I had noticed Uhura was next to Spock but in front of Pike and I. I also noticed Jim was right behind me.

I turned to look at Uhura and the rest followed my example. She looked back at me before saying anything. "Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself. Lieutenant Kirk's report is accurate."

"We're warping into a trap, sir. The Romulans are waiting for us. I can promise you that." I said almost pleadingly.

Pike turned to Spock, for assistance. "Cadet Uhura's is unmatched in xenolinguistics. We would be wise to accept her conclusion. And the lieutenant's logic is sound. I see no reason to why she would lie." Spock answered monotonously.

"There's no reason to, as I am telling the truth." I muttered darkly. The Vulcan was getting on my nerves.

Pike ignored me and ordered a communications lieutenant to check for transmissions in Vulcan space, but there was a problem.

"Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan." The lieutenant said.

Pike turned to Uhura. "What about you? Do you speak Romulan, cadet..." He trailed off not knowing her name.

"Uhura. All 3 dialects, sir." She finished for him.

"Uhura, relieve the lieutenant." Pike commanded

"Yes, sir." She returned.

"Hannity, hail the USS Truman." Pike asked another crew member.

"All the other ships are out of warp, sir, and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seem to have lost all contact." Hannity replied to Pike.

"Sir, I pick up no Romulan transmission or transmission of any kind in the area." Uhura added afterwards.

"It's because they're being attacked." Jim and I said in unison. I turned to look at him with my signature 'stop doing that' look. He replied with his signature 'I'm not doing anything' look.

Pike turned and faced the screen. "Shields up. Red alert." He ordered. Jim and I went to a railing that was behind the captain's chair. Spock was next to us.

"Arrival at Vulcan in 5 seconds. 4... 3... 2..." When we got out of warp, we were met with debris of what once used to be the fleet. Spock immediately moved to his post.

"Emergency evasives." Commanded Pike. The members of the bridge frantically worked to move around and prevent from hitting the debris. Jim and I held on to the railing, my hands were white from gripping so hard.

"Damage report." Pike said

"Deflector shields are holding." Someone answered.

"All stations. Engineer Olson, report." Pike said through the con. We were about to crash into another starship. "Full reverse. Come about starboard, 90°. Drop us down underneath them, Sulu."

Sulu did as he was told. After we had passed the ship, we spotted an enormous ship. It was THE ship. The same ship that took my father's life and destroyed the fleet, plus those 47 Klingon warbirds. All we did was stare and gape at its enormity.

"Captain, they're locking torpedoes." Spock warned.

"Divert auxiliary power from port nossel to forward shields." Pike commanded. We were hit by their weapons making the Enterprise to have to evade them by going side to side. Jim and I held on tight. We got hit once. "Sulu, status report."

"Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that." Sulu advised.

"Get me Starfleet command." Pike said.

"Captain. The Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high energy pulse device into the Vulcan atmosphere. It's signal appears to be blocking our communications and transporter abilities." Spock said.

We stood there for a few silent moments before Uhura broke the silence. "Captain, we're being hailed." She stood up and faced the screen.

There appeared a Romulan with tattoos on his bald head. Not the most elegant of appearances, if you ask me. "Hello." He said. His voice sounded gravelly.

"I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?" Pike asked as he still sat in his chair.

"Hi Christopher, I'm Nero." The Romulan named Nero answered so casually.

"You've declared war against the Federation. Withdraw and I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location." Captain Pike negotiated with the Romulan, but it was of no use.

"I do not speak for the Empire. We stand apart." Nero paused. "As does your Vulcan crew member. Isn't that right, Spock?" When he said Spock, it sounded harsh.

It was obvious he had an issue with Spock (don't we all). Everyone's eyes on the bridge turned to Spock as he raised himself from his post and headed towards the screen.

"Pardon me, I do not believe that you and I are acquainted." Spock said ever so politely.

"No, we're not. Not yet." There was malice in his tone. Foreboding, and I didn't like it at all. "Spock, there's something I would like you to see." Something for Spock to see? That can't be good at all.

"Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see, by the rest of the armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle. Come aboard the Narada for negotiations. That is all." Nero disappeared from the screen, but Captain Pike kept staring at it for a few moments.

Pike got out of his chair. "Heh'll kill you, you know that." I said as I kept my hand over Jim's mouth. Childish, I know, but he was opening his mouth and it really annoys me when we talk at the same time. Plus I wasn't in the best of moods, so that didn't help.

"Your survival is unlikely." Spock stated the fact. I wanted to scream my lungs out. Of course, the one man who steps in and acts like a father to Jim and I after so many years, is going to be killed by the same man who killed our biological father.

"Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy." I said. Jim managed to remove my hand from his mouth and added, "Going over to that ship is a mistake."

I hit Jim on the back his head. He bit my hand. He groaned silently, holding the back of his head, as Spock spoke.

"I too agree. You should rethink your strategy." Spock aided in our favour, for once.

"I understand that." Pike said as he turned to Jim and I, specifically, as he said that. "I need officers who've been trained in advanced hand to hand combat." He looked around the bridge and found Sulu with his hand raised.

"I have training, sir." Sulu said. Pike nodded once in his direction.

"Come with me." He told Sulu and started to leave. "Kirk, you too. You're not supposed to be here anyway." He said as he walk towards the exit. "Both of you." He turned and eyed me, daring me to question him. As if, that's Jim's thing. "Chekov, you have the con." And he walked out of the bridge.

The last I heard of the Russian ensign was "Aye, Captain." Before the door closed behind me and I followed the rest down the hallway, and into something unknown.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

We walked past people in the hallway, who had no intention in stopping us. Rather moving out of the way when they saw Captain Pike.

"Without transporters we can't beam off the ship. We can't assist Vulcan, we can't do our job." Started the Captain. "Mr. Kirk, Mr. Sulu, Engineer Olson will space-jump from the shuttle. You will land on that machine they've lowered into the atmosphere, that's scrambling our gear, you'll get inside, you'll disable it then you'll beam back to the ship." He explains the mission at hand. But that still left me out. So where was I in this master plan?

He began to give instructions to Spock, who was walking behind him. He spoke loudly to be heard over the engineers, who were working furiously to fix the Enterprise.

"Mr. Spock, I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport capability and communication back up you'll contact Starfleet and report what the hell's going on here."

This still didn't explain why I was here. He didn't really expect me to go with Jim. Did he? Not that I was going to object.

He stopped at the lift that would take us to the shuttle and turned to Spock. "And if all else fails, fall back and rendezvous with the fleet in the Laurentian system."

He turned to Jim who was next to me. "Kirk, I'm promoting you to first officer." I was shocked and proud, but mostly shocked.

"What?" Jim and I said simultaneously again, I didn't even bother to stop him. Much less glare at him.

"Captain? Please, I apologize. The complexities of human pranks escape me." Spock said. I frowned, but then shrugged. It understood why he was surprised.

"It's not a prank, Spock. And I am not the captain, you are." Pike explained to the still not amused Vulcan. He turned to the rest of us. "Let's go."

We all got on the lift after Sulu. The captain stayed out of the lift momentarily. I stood between Jim and Sulu. As the captain entered Jim asked him a critical question. "Sir, after we knock out that drill, what happens to you?"

"I guess you have to come and get me." He said in an off hand casual manner. "Careful with the ship, Spock, She's brand new." He advised the newly appointed captain before the lift's doors closed.

The last I saw of Spock before the doors closed were one of his strange eyebrows being raised in possible amusement, though I sort of doubt it.

I stayed quiet the entire time. There was a nervous tension in the lift, you could practically feel it. The lift doors opened when we arrived at the cargo bay. Olson was already there waiting for us. "Gentlemen, please go change into the suits. You'll be needing them if you plan to survive the jump."

Sulu, Olson, and Jim went into a changing room to get into the suits. I stood by Pike. "Sir?" He turned to me. "What exactly is my purpose being here?" I asked.

"I knew that if I gave you orders to stay behind, you'd find a way to disobey them in order to see your brother go." He said casually. I couldn't help but give a small smile. "That and I wanted to tell you, Lieutenant, I'm also promoting you."

"Sir, I don't know why you would promote me when there are others who deserve it more than I." I began.

"That is where you are wrong Lieutenant. No one deserves this promotion more than you. Well, your brother did just get a promotion, but that doesn't matter." He began and looked directly at me. His eyes soften. He really is the father I never had.

"Captain-"

"Don't you at least want to find out what it is." He interrupted. After thinking about it, I nodded my head sheepishly.

"I thought so." He mused. "I'm promoting you to first officer."

I was dumbfounded. "But isn't that the position-"

"That I gave your brother, yes. I decided that you'd be the second first officer, making you second officer." He said. It was just a jumble of words to me that barely made sense.

"Second officer?" I asked, my tone confused.

"Yes, Lily, second officer." He rarely called me Lily. Usually 'Kirk' no matter if it was just me or I was with Jim. "You know what they say leave the best for last, and I am. With you and your brother. The best this ship can have as captains."

I remained quiet, staring thoughtfully at empty space. I heard what he said loud and clear, but I couldn't believe it.

"Lily, I know you don't like leadership." He put a hand on my shoulder. "But without Jim or Spock, you're the only choice left that can get to do many things with this starship. Save millions, save your crew even if it kills you in the process.

He sighed. I bet he was remembering the time when I was helping a fellow cadet at the risk of my life. "Like father like daughter. Your father would be proud of where you are today."

"You bet he would be, Captain." A voice said behind us. Pike's hand got off my shoulder as he looked to see who it was. I didn't turn around to know it was my brother.

"And so am I" Jim reached me and Pike. He was wearing what seemed to be a blue elastic suit that looked metallic. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders before giving me a quick squeeze.

"I got promoted too." I turned my head to tell him.

"Really, what to?"

"Second officer."

He scrunched up his face in confusion. "What the hell is that?"

I turned to Pike. He hasn't said much explaining to me my new position. "Second officer is basically a first officer who is second to the first officer. The second officer takes over as first officer, when either the first officer becomes captain or dies." Pike explained.

"I just came up with it." He added.

Jim smiled, giving me another squeeze. "I'm proud of you, sis."

"I'm proud of you too." I replied to Jim giving him a hug. He hugged me back. This was it. This was the goodbye. Possibly even the last. I really hoped it wasn't.

I didn't know how long were were hugging each other, when someone coughed. I broke the hug to see who it was. Sulu, and he looked a bit red. Olsen didn't say anything, but his eyebrows were raised in amusement. They each wore similar suits to Jim's, but Sulu's was yellow while Olson's was red.

"Sorry." Olson told Jim and I, he turned to Captain Pike who was still standing in the same spot he was when I first hugged Jim. "Captain, the shuttle is ready to go sir."

Pike nodded. "Proceed on, Engineer Olson, Mr. Sulu." He passed by me and whispered "You have one minute."

I hugged Jim, once more, and whispered in his ear. "Be careful out there, Jimmy." I leaned back in time to see him nod. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and let go of him.

The three, in their individual suits, walked behind Captain Pike in the direction of the shuttle. I could see Olson elbowing Jim. Even from the small distance they were at, I could hear them.

"You have a hot girlfriend." Olson said. I smiled to myself, trying not to laugh. Jim looked back at me, and saw me stifling my laughter.

It seems to be a common thing now. To be confused as his girlfriend instead of his sister. I mean, I don't look that different from him, our hair is just different color.

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my sister." Jim said, turning back to Olson, embarrassed, I noted, by his tone.

"Mind if I go after her, mate?" He asked.

"Yes, I do mind." Jim replied, his tone hard and clipped. He's always protective of me, and like I am of him.

The last I heard of the conversation was "alright, alright" from Olson. I turned and walked back out the cargo bay and into the lift once again.

When the doors opened, I immediately ran back to the bridge to keep updated with the mission.

When I reached the bridge, I stopped and said: "Permission to enter the bridge, Captain?" Spock turned in the chair.

"Yes, Lieutenant." Was his response. I walked in and went straight to Uhura.

"Has the shuttle left cargo bay yet?" I asked her, worry filling my tone. Before she could open her mouth the Russian kid, Chekhov, spoke.

"Away team is entering the atmosphere, sir."

"Never mind." I told her. She gave me a smile, as if to ease my worry.

"20,000 metres." Said Chekhov.

I walked to the captain's chair. Spock was now seated there, signifying the change of command. He was staring intently at the screen.

"So you met him." I said to him, turning to face the screen. "Great introduction, by the way."

As I had said before, I was angry at the Vulcan for the dad incident during the trial against Jim, but had decided not to let it show. The recent argument between the both of us, did begin to let that heated anger towards him grow, and perhaps show it a little.

"How did he get aboard the ship?" Was his only response.

"You should figure that one out in a jiffy, Captain. After all, you're the genius." Spock didn't look at me, but one of his eyebrows raised a little bit, not enough to others to notice, but I still saw it.

"I do have news to share with you, though, from Captain Pike. Information he gave me before he departed." Spock at once stood up and signaled me to follow him. We didn't leave the bridge, but he just stood in front of the screen over looking space, and mostly Vulcan (the planet, not the annoying half human half Vulcan specimen next to me).

Spock looked at me, and that told me to tell him my news. "Captain Pike has promoted me." Spock didn't look surprised at all, but he didn't show emotions. If he did show emotions, he'd be flabbergasted, maybe.

"That is great news, Lieutenant. What position did he promote you to?" He inquired.

"I'm the second first officer." I replied. He seemed to understand what that meant.

"I am very glad of your promotion as you should Commander." He said after taking a long look at his home planet.

"Captain, it's just Lieutenant. At least until the current commander resigns or dies. One of which is very likely to happen at this moment, and for the same reason that I am worried." I said looking him as he stared back at me with a blank face.

Spock didn't say anything as the next thing that was heard was "Approaching the platform at 5,800 hundred metres" from Chekhov.

"Kirk to Enterprise." I heard my brother's voice over the con and I whipped my head to the planet. I could almost picture my brother and the two other guys diving towards a platform that could possibly end their life. I lightly shook my head to get rid of the thought, but it still lingered in the back of my head.

"Distance to target, 5,000 metres." Jim said. They were getting close to the platform.

Spock and I moved back to the captain's chair. Spock sat down, and I stood beside him looking at the display that had three dots.

"4,600 metres to the platform." Said Chekhov. I was watching the planet from the screen in anxiety. I really wanted Jim to be alright.

"4,500 metres to target." Sulu immediately said after Chekhov.

"4,000 metres." Jim said after a moment of silence.

"3,000 metres." Followed up Sulu.

"3,000 metres" Olson repeated.

"2,000 metres." Jim said. They were getting quite close now.

"Pulling chute." Informed Sulu. The swish could be heard from Sulu and another followed, signaling it was one of the other two.

"2,000 metres!" Repeated Olson... again.

"Come on, pull your chute, Olson!" Cried Jim.

'So he was the one that pulled his chute.' I thought.

"No, not yet! Not yet!" Olson persisted. "1,500 metres!"

"Olson, open your chute!" Said Sulu this time. Olson could be heard laughing with glee.

'He sure seems to like the adrenaline'

"Olson, pull your chute!" Repeated Jim.

"1,000 metres!" Olson ignored them both, and continued the countdown.

At the last moment, the swish could be heard. Olson had finally opened his chute. Suddenly he screamed.

"No!" He yelled and we heard his body crash against something. He groaned as he kept hitting things, that were most likely on the platform before we heard one last scream.

"Olson!" Yelled Sulu.

"Ol... Olson is gone, sir!" Chekhov said in surprise.

I continued to watch the display, as I began to fidget from my spot in nervousness.

We heard fast breathing, and the display showed a blue dot getting closer to the platform. I was extremely nervous as Olson already probed how dangerous this mission is. I looked at my hands and hoped Jim was alright.

I heard a groan and held my breath. Chekhov spoke. "Kirk has landed, sir."

I released my breath, relieved that Jim was okay. Spock did not stir from his seat nor did he show any indication that he heard. I looked at the display and my nervousness grew again, when I figured that something might go wrong while he was on the platform.

'Man, I am a worrying mess.'

Kirk's POV

I took off my helmet and lowered the hood that covered my hair. I looked up as a hatch opened up. I was breathing fast. The air here isn't what I'm used to.

Before the Romulan could fully get out I got up, tossed my helmet to the side and ran screaming at him. He stopped me from hitting him with his gun. The gun accidentally went off a couple of times. I continued to struggle with the Romulan until I managed to hit him with, what I assume is, the butt of his gun.

He stumbled back slightly and I landed a punch on his jaw. He continued to stumble back and I took the opportunity to take out my phaser. He hit it out of my hand. I saw it go over the platform and sail through the air to the surface of the planet.

I back up to pick up the helmet that I tossed earlier and used that to defend myself. I swung it in between us to keep a distance, but I also managed a few hits. The last hit sent him down.

The hatch opened again and another Romulan came out. This one took out a blade before I punched him.

The other Romulan that went down, got back up. When he went down the other one got up. This went on for awhile, until the other one was distracted by Sulu.

After that the Romulan and I kept landing punches on each other. Well, until he managed to make me fall on the platform. He picked me up, tossed me around, punched me, and the tossed me over his shoulder again. He kicked me in the stomach, and I almost began to fall to the surface of the planet like my phaser, hadn't I grabbed onto the ledge with both of my hands.

If Lily ever found out about me hanging like this, she'd probably kill the Romulan. In a very horrific and gory way.

Lily's POV

Now I was pacing behind the Captain's chair, biting my nails in nervousness and worry. We could hear the grunts, groans ,and moans from Sulu and Jim.

I knew they were in a fight. Jim tends to attracts those like redshirts to an explosion.

'I hope Jim's okay.' I thought. 'If not I'll kill him.'

Jim's POV

The Romulan stood over me and looked at me with a sinister smile that barred his teeth. He knew I was done for if he stepped on my hands, and I knew that too.

He tried to step on my hands, but I moved them to quickly. He lifted his foot and slammed it where my hand used to be. Around the sixth or seventh time, I wasn't so lucky. He stepped on my hand. It felt like it got rolled over. I screamed in pain.

Lily's POV

As soon as I heard Jim's scream I looked up. I went to Chekhov.

"Chekhov, what just happened?" I asked with a hint of anger in my voice. Whoever did that to my brother was dead.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but I do not know vhat has 'appened down there." He replied.

"Alright, just keep my updated on their health status." He nodded.

I went back next to the chair and resumed my pacing.

Jim's POV

The Romulan didn't live with victory for long, because he and I were surprised when we saw a blade running straight through his chest. The blade was stained with his yellow blood. The Romulan screamed in agony, before the blade was removed.

Hanging from one hand, I saw the Romulan fall to the surface.

"Give me your hand!" Sulu yelled as I continued to stare at the small dot that used to be the Romulan. "Come on."

I threw my hand up at him and Sulu grabbed it. He began to pull me up as I used the rest of my body to help me up onto the platform.

Once up, I was bent over catching my breath when Sulu said: "Olson had the charges!"

"I know!" I replied.

"What do we do?"

"This!" I grabbed the gun from the now dead Romulan and began to blast the centre of the platform that held it up. Sulu found another and began to do the same.

Eventually, we felt the thing stop humming, and so we stopped shooting.

Lily's POV

"The jamming signal's gone. Transporter abilities are reestablished." Said Uhura from her seat. I looked up. Everyone was furiously at work trying to communicate with Vulcan and Jim and Sulu.

"Transporter control is reengaged, sir." Said Chekhov.

"Chekhov, run gravitational sensors. I want to know they are doing to the planet." Spock ordered.

"Aye, Commander." Said Chekhov before he saw his mistake. "Captain. Sorry, Captain."

I turned to Spock. "Captain, if you need me I'll be in the transporter room." And turned to leave.

"Lieutenant." He said. "It would be much better use of your help if you were here than in the transporter room. Please help Ensign Chekhov."

He knew me well. I was grateful, I need something to take my mind off of Jim.

"Yes, Captain." And headed over to Chekhov.

"What do have for me, Chekhov?" I asked.

Jim's POV

Sulu and I stood there looking around not sure of what to do now that our mission was done.

Suddenly something was flew past us, toward the hole they just drilled into the planet.

"Kirk to Enterprise. They just launched something at the planet through the hole they just drilled." I said. "Do you copy, Enterprise?"

"Yes, sir." I heard in reply.

Lily's POV

Hole? I did know they drilled at hole into the planet.

"Chekhov? What do the gravitational sensors say?" I asked.

"The sensors are off the scale." He replied as he continued to move around and find out more information.

"You better tell the Captain now. I think I know what we're facing, just give me a sec."

Chekhov turned to Spock as I finished some of my calculations.

"Captain, the gravitational sensors are off the scale." He repeated to Spock.

"And if our calculations are correct," He continued. ", they're creating a singularity that will consume the planet."

"They're creating a black hole at the centre of Vulcan?" I swear I heard emotion in Spock's tone.

"Yes." Said Chekhov.

"How long does the planet have?"

At this point, I finished with the rest of the calculations and turned to Spock.

"Captain, the planet only has minutes left." I said with sorrow. I knew that his parents were down there.

Spock sat still. Suddenly he stood up.

"Alert Vulcan Command Centre to signal a planet wide evacuation, all channels, all frequencies." Spock ordered as he stood up and headed towards the lift.

"Spock, wait." Uhura said. At this, I stood up and began to follow him.

"Maintain standard orbit." He told a girl in a dress like mine.

"Yes, sir." She replied. Uhura and I followed Spock to the lift.

"Where are you going?" Uhura asked him as he stepped into the lift.

"To evacuate the High Council. Their task is to protect our cultural history, my parents will be among them." He said swiftly.

"Can't you beam them out?" Uhura asked.

"He can't." I spoke. "They'll be in the katric arc. We can't get a signal down there. He must get them himself."

Spock looked at me. It was almost in surprise. Uhura looked surprised for sure, though.

"What?" I said. "I listen to you when you think I'm not listening."

I think he wanted to smile for a moment.

"You have the con." He told me just before the doors closed and sent him away.

"Yay." I said with complete enthusiasm. Then I sighed.

I walked over to the middle of the bridge, and Uhura went back to her seat.

"Chekhov, keep an eye on Sulu and Kirk. I want to know how we're doing on beaming them up."

"Aye, Lieutenant." He replied.

I walked up to Uhura. "Uhura have the lines open. I want all transmission from my brother as well."

Uhura nodded and gave me a sad smile. She knew how worried about Jim.

I went to stand next to the Captain's chair. I wouldn't sit there. I wasn't the captain nor did I want to. My thoughts were interrupted by Jim.

"Kirk to Enterprise. Beam us out of here!" I heard.

"Stand by, locking on your signal." Replied a woman from the transporter room.

I was relieved because Jim was finally coming up. I was standing over Uhura, checking the how they were doing with the evacuation. Which they weren't doing fast enough.

From my calculations, they had about 15-20 minutes, possibly more of they were lucky, before the planet was destroyed by the black hole. Almost 10 minutes have passed by and not much has been done. Suddenly I heard the cry of the woman from the transporter room.

"I can't lock on them, don't move. Don't move!" I went to Chekhov to see what happened.

The Romulans had retracted the drill and now Sulu and Jim were fly through the air. I looked at Chekhov's screen. There were two dots and the screen, it seemed, was going haywire.

"Kirk to Enterprise! We're falling without a chute! Beam us up!" Jim said. So he was free falling... without a chute, typical Jim. But I'm still terrified out of my mind.

"I'm trying. I can't lock on your signal! You're moving too fast!" Replied the chief. Like it was his fault they were going too fast.

"Beam us up!" Jim yelled.

Suddenly Chekhov got all excited and started yelling "I can do that! I can do that!"

"You've got the con." I told a lady who had a dress like mine. I grabbed Chekhov by the arm and hauled him up. "Come on. You're helping me get my brother back."

We ran down corridors as I yelled. "Move! Move! Important life saving mission! Move it! I said move it!"

When we reached the transporter room, I said, "Quick, give him manual control! He can lock on!" I sat Chekhov down in the chair where the chief used to be. I turned my attention to Chekhov as he worked.

"Enterprise, where are you?!" Jim yelled over the conn.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Chekhov repeated a couple of times.

"Now! Now! Do it now!" Jim's urgent tone was not pleasing to hear.

"Okay, okay, okay! Hold on! Hold on! Compensating gravitational pull and..." He muttered the last part.

Suddenly a familiar white glow appeared and disappeared just as fast as it appeared. A thump was heard and there on the ground of the pad was Jim and Sulu. It seems Jim went after Sulu. Also typical of Jim.

Chekhov yelled something. I believe it was in Russian. I dismissed the thought and I ran to help Jim.

"God." He said as I helped him sit up. "I don't want to do that ever again." He told me.

"I'll keep your word to that." I responded as I gave him a quick hug. As I let Jim go, Sulu spoke.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Jim said groaning as I helped him stand.

Spock came in and saw me. He didn't say anything to me, but spoke to Jim and Sulu instead. "Clear the pad. I'm beaming to the surface."

I pulled Jim off the pad and Sulu, sort of, scrambled off. "The surface of what?" Jim asked him as we got off. Then Jim realised it. "What, are you going down there? Are you nuts?"

Jim's questions were ignored by Spock, as the Vulcan himself crouched down and got into position, but I answered instead. "He has to. He's got no other alternative."

"There's always another alternative." Jim told me. He then turned to Spock. "Spock, you can't do that!" He yelled at him.

Spock ignored Jim. "Energise!" He commanded Chekhov. The white glow appeared once again. And then Spock was gone. Jim had yelled out to him one last time before he completely disappeared.

"Spo-" Jim didn't finish. He sighed and closed his eyes in frustration.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "He had to leave. He had no other choice."

"Lily, there's always a choice." He replied as he looked at me.

"Sometimes there isn't." I replied.

"There always is another choice." He walked away and towards Chekhov and Sulu.

"The choices we have left aren't all good choices, Jim." I said to him loud enough for him to hear. He stopped and turned. I walked up to him.

"Think about it. If Dad hadn't died for us, we wouldn't be here right now. We'd be dead. Dad made a choice, and he knew the consequences of that choice. Spock has made his choice. He knows what to do."

Jim looked down. "Then why did he leave?" Jim said as he looked at me.

"For the same reason you came back." I said. "For family." The next thing I heard was Chekhov groaning and panicking. Jim and I went over to him and saw he locked on to new targets, but I didn't know why he was panicking.

"I'm losing her! I'm losing her!" I edged closer to see what was going on. "No! I lost her. I lost her." Chekhov said softly in disbelief and panic.

Her? I looked over to the pad and saw the figure of Spock and others appearing. Something was wrong, though, Spock's arm was outstretched to someone that was not there.

I looked around and saw that someone was missing. I managed to find Spock's father who was staring at the exact same spot. I couldn't find his mother, though, and that was when I realised what possibly happened.

I went to Jim, and saw him look at Spock. I looked back at Spock. The stillness of the room and the silence was enough to shake me. I dug my face into Jim's chest, not wanting to see Spock's desperate, saddened, eyes. The only time I'd se him show emotions, and it was at the death of his mother.

Jim wrapped his arm around my upper body and pressed me tightly to him. He didn't seem to want to let me go. Maybe for fear of losing me. Maybe to let me know it was going to be alright. But in all honesty, I'm more afraid of losing him.


	7. Chapter 7

I had to go back to the bridge with a silent Spock, while a frantic Leo ushered Jim and the High Council to be checked out in med bay. The walk back to the bridge was a silent one, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

Though I might not have actually met my Dad, I still knew of him and his death still pained me. Spock, though, had a different situation. He met and was raised by his mother. Now she's gone, and that alone had him silent.

"Captain," I said before we entered the lift. "Would it be alright if I were to go to med bay? I feel that is where I belong at the moment."

Spock simply nodded. I looked at him. He was sad and angry, I could tell by his eyes. "I apologise about your mother's death, Captain." I told him. "I know it pains you, not having her here, but, Captain, she'll always be in your memories." I knew it was a bit cheesy, what I said, but there really wasn't another way to put it.

I was a bit hesitant, but I did so anyway. I put my hand on his shoulder. "If you ever need to talk about it, Captain, just know that I'm the best there is to talk about it." I quickly patted his shoulder and walked towards med bay.

The hallways were still busy as ever with people running up and down them. It seemed unreal compared to the acting captain. I didn't expect much from the him when I saw his mother was gone, but it hurt when I saw his face.

It reminded me of my mom when she reminded herself about Dad. Her eyes would go misty and distant. She'd still have that same shocked look on her face when she realised he really wasn't there.

She'd look down at Jim or I or both of us, since we looked so similar to him (more Jim than me; during my teenage years my hair changed slowly to brown, while Jim's stayed blonde with just a tint of brown), and gave us a weary smile. Even if he wasn't with her, she had Jim and I to remind her why he did what he did. But the longer she looked at us the more she wanted to forget that her partner in life was gone and left 3 things for her to remind her of him.

As soon as Jim and I could attend school, she sent the three of us (George, Jim, and I) to Uncle Frank, whom we hated with a passion (at least George did more than the two of us) and she went off planet, multiple times. She wanted to forget Dad. But as hard as she could try, it didn't work.

I thought about it as I walked to med bay. I was now roaming the halls finding a way to have a few moments to myself as I thought things through. My feet took me to engineering, I don't know why as I didn't really have good friends there. I had acquaintances, but that was about it.

Anyhow, I saw a red shirt bended over a pipe line. I looked at the pipe. It was criss crossing, perpendicular, and parallel to many other pipe lines. Then I remembered that Olson was the head engineer, and that his deputy engineer was someone named Watson. I decided to tell him of his temporary position.

"Excuse me," I said as I got closer. The redshirt didn't move, possibly it didn't hear me. "Excuse me!" I said louder than before. It was then I heard how loud I was. The section of engineering I walked into was empty with the exception of this redshirt. It was strange, but I guess the work that needed to be done here was a job for one.

Anyway, the redshirt at last looked up. It was a him, a very handsome him. With his dark brown hair, square rimmed glasses, and dirty hands. I found myself staring. I quickly shook my head. "Sorry, but do you happen to know where Engineer Watson is?" I asked, sounding confident it surprised me.

"What do you need from Watson?" He retorted in what seemed to be an Scottish accent.

"It's about Engineer Olson." I answered hiding my surprise to his rudeness. "Do you know where he is?"

"Why do you need Watson for? He's a lousy, imbecile of an engineer." Replied the man as he went back to work. I surprised even more by his open rudeness towards a fellow coworker of his.

"At least that's what the rest of them say." He continued on.

"Them? Whose 'them'?" I asked extremely confused.

He looked up at me with furrowed eyebrows. "The other engineers, of course."

"Why would they say that?" I countered.

"Why do they say that 2+2=4?" I shrugged in response, considering that I actually had no idea why. "Because it's something everyone believes in. It's something so simple that everyone follows it blindly and gives it no second thought."

"Then does 2+2=4?" I asked.

He sighed before responding. "Who knows, but I'm still the lousy imbecile of an engineer you're looking for." He extended one of his dirty oily hands. "Engineer Colin Watson at your service."

I stood there in amazement. I could care less about his oily dirty hand, I was more impressed by his attitude towards what he had said. "Lillian Kirk at your service as well." I said as I clasped my hand onto his and shaking it firmly for a second or two.

He almost laughed when he hears my name. "Sorry, but by any chance are you related to James Kirk?"

"Yes, in fact he is my older brother." I replied. Technically speaking, Jim was born before I was, making him the oldest of the two, even though we were twins.

"Wow, must be hell." He snorted. "And I thought I had it rough."

"Well, I manage." I cracked a smile. Then I remembered why I came looking for him. "May I speak to you for a minute or so?"

"You're already talking to me, so get to it." He was a bit blunt I can give you that, but he was very intelligent.

"Right, well as I had said before it concerns Engineer Olson the previous head engineer, am I correct?"

He nodded. "Aye, that's correct. But why previous? What happened to him on the mission?"

"He seemed to be too much of an adrenaline junkie and so it caused him to be incinerated by some part of the platform he was on."

"Well, he did seem quite excited to go on this mission. But what does that have to do with me?"

"You are Deputy Engineer, aren't you?" He nodded again, and then I continued. "Well, for now until said otherwise or we land on Earth, either one, you are the new Head Engineer."

He seemed shock at first. "I...uh...I don't know if I am right for the job. I, mean, really none of the other engineers get along with me for who knows why."

"Well, that's too bad for them, because you are the ship's temporary, until stated otherwise, Head Engineer. It's the chain of command and I'm only following the orders stated to me." I said. Though no one ordered me to, the acting captain had too much going on as it is. I just went to do it for him.

I looked at him closely. He had a slight panicked look. The same one I knew was on my face when I was put in charge of the Science section. I felt bad for him, because I knew what it felt like. All the pressure put onto you and everyone expects you to be the best. No mistakes, otherwise you get taken down.

"Look, I'd find another replacement, but you're the most qualified hence you being Deputy Engineer. And I'm sure you'll be fine. I mean, I'm fine with my position."

"And you are?"

"Head Science Officer. I've been in your situation before when the acting captain handed over to me his section to be become Commander of the ship. The only thing I fear now is when I'm needed in that chair. The chair that seated Christopher Pike, and the acting captain. That day either I'll doom us all or kill us all." I sighed and stayed quiet afterwards.

"Well, that was quite something." He said at last. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up."

I cleared my throat and looked away from him. "Well, I was just stating the truth. I'm not much of a leader." I looked back at him. "And I'm sure you'll be fine. You seem to be very relaxed now."

His cheeks started to tinge red. "Uh... yeah. It's just that... uh... you helped me to relax by... helping me?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. He seemed to be tongue tied or something of the sort.

I smiled. I actually wanted to laugh as his cheeks starts to go red, like a tomato red. "Glad I was of help." I said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see my brother."

He nodded. "Right. You better head off then Science Officer Kirk."

"I'm a lieutenant as well, Watson, not just a science officer. And please call me Lily, most people do." I replied.

"Then call me Colin, my friends do." He replied smiling.

"Great to have your acquaintance, Colin. I may come back later if I have news." I extended my hand and he did the same. We shook hands briefly.

"Goodbye, Colin Watson. I'll see you soon." I said as I walked away.

"See you as well, Lily Kirk." He yelled back at me. I smiled and went over to med bay.

When I walked into med bay, I looked for Leo. He was busy with a member from engineering, quite ironically. I decided to inquire a nurse instead about my brother.

"Excuse me, nurse." I said to a passing nurse. She stopped and faced me. "Do you happen to know a patient? His name is James T. Kirk."

She nodded and flipped through her clipboard. "Ah, yes. A bruised hand, but he'll be good as new soon."

"Thank you. Also do you happen to know if he is here or if he left?" I asked.

"Dr. McCoy wouldn't let him leave until he knew he was alright. He should still be here." She replied. I asked about a sink to wash my hands in. After she directed me to one, I thanked her and went to off to wash my hands then find Jim.

It didn't take long to find him. He was sitting on a bed as he held up his injured hand to a nurse. She was wrapping his hand in gauze or something. I went over to him and stood by until the nurse finished. When she finish I approached him.

"How are you doing?" I asked as I sat next to him.

"Fine. Just a bruised hand." He said as held up his gauze covered hand.

"You know what I meant."

He sighed. "Yes. No. Maybe. I'm not sure. I mean what am I supposed to do?" He sighed again. "Pike made me first officer."

"I know." I interjected.

"And now Spock is captain." He ignored me. "Spock hates me, Lily. I don't know what to do."

"I know about all of it. I was there, remember?" I said. "And I know how you feel, or at least at some point I did."

He turned to me. "How? Explain, Lily. Please."

"Well, we did just witness the death of a planet through a black hole, so there's that."

"I'm not kidding, Lily."

"And neither am I. We just witness a planet be sucked into a black hole. Now there's nothing there, but empty space that used to hold something that is no longer there. Jim, we saw millions of people die because to that black hole, too."

"I know. There was no way for us to help them all, was there?"

"No, there wasn't. We didn't know what was going on until it was too late. Maybe 10,000 or so managed to escape, but the rest of them, they didn't stand a chance. Spock is part of an endangered species, Jim." I turned away from him and looked straight ahead.

"Don't remind me. I already feel miserable. Did you see his face?" He asked.

"Yes, I saw him. Angry, upset, frustrated, lost. All of the same feelings we felt when we knew that Pike was taken by that Romulan, Nero." I faced Jim again. "Don't deny it. I know you as well as you know me."

"True" was all he said.

"That might be what's making you feel torn. Your duty to the captain of the ship and your natural instincts. They're conflicting each other. Mostly since your natural instincts are based on your emotions at the current moment."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Go on as normal as can be. It means we go to the bridge and basically go on from there. Also, follow your instincts, they're usually right." I added. Jim smiled. "Now come on. Let's go."

I hopped off the bed, and Jim followed. "So I just leave like that?" He asked.

"Well, does your hand hurt?"

He moved it around a bit, and winced slightly. "A bit."

I nodded. "I'm sure you'll be fine. On the way to the bridge you can take it off."

"Or you can help me do it now." He offered.

"Fine." I replied and started to help him. After that he moved his hand again, resulting in the same reaction.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." And we headed off towards the exit, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at Jim and saw that his right shoulder held a hand of it's own too. We both looked behind us to find Leo looking at us.

"Hey Bones. Feeling all better, see?" Jim said and held up his injured hand.

"I can see that." Leo said. "But where are you going before you do one last test?"

"Bridge." I replied casually. "We need to go up there and see what we're doing next. I'm just getting him." I tipped my head at Jim. "You're more than welcome to come. Actually I'm sure the acting captain will welcome it as well."

Leo looked at us carefully. He didn't seem to buy my semi-lie. "Sure, I'll come along." He said. "As long as Jim comes back soon afterwards to complete the last test."

"Sure, don't worry. I'll make sure to bring him back." I said. Leo knew I could make Jim do almost anything, but coming to a doctor, even if he was the doctor attending him, is an impossible feat even for me.

Anyhow, Leo came with us as we walked down the corridors towards the bridge. It was a quiet walk, but it seemed to greatly contrast the rest of the ship that was filled with noise, as people here and there made repairs.

Upon finally reaching the bridge, Jim walked in first. Leo stood to the side and let me go in before him and he followed after me. I went straight to Nyota, when I didn't spot Spock.

"Where is he?" I asked her.

"He went out, maybe to walk for a bit." She replied. I nodded and went to Chekhov checking how everything was. After about 5 minutes or so, Spock at last showed up.

"Have you confirmed that Nero is heading for Earth?" He said as he entered the bridge. Uhura must've contacted him somehow.

"Their trajectory suggests no other destination, Captain." Replied Uhura.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." He said.

"Earth may be his next stop, but we have to assume every Federation planet's a target." Mused Jim. I stood behind the chair leaning on the railing with my arms crossed. I had not said a word since the conversation began.

"Out of the chair." Spock told Jim. Jim got out reluctantly.

"Well, if the Federation is the target, why didn't they destroy us?" Chekhov asked.

Sulu replied this time. "Why would they? Why waste a weapon? We obviously weren't a threat."

"That is not it. He said he wanted me to see something." Said Spock. "The destruction of my home planet."

"How the hell did they do that, by the way? And where did the Romulans get that kind of weaponry?" Asked Leo.

"The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest an answer." Spock said in reply. Leo still looked a bit lost.

"He means that there's only one possibility, considering that they can artificially make a black hole, and it's not possible in our time." I spoke for the first time, since Spock entered the bridge. They all turned to me, but I ignored it all.

"Damn it Lily, I'm a doctor, not a physicist. Are you actually suggesting they're from the future?" Inquired Leo.

"If you eliminate the impossible, what ever remains, however improbable must be the truth." Spock spoke instead as I nodded. I noticed where the quote was from. One of my favourite series of short stories/novels ever written.

"How poetic." Replied Leo.

"Actually Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes. You should read the short stories or novels one of these days." I said. They all turned to me again.

"Oh, was he being sarcastic? You should still read it anyway, excellent work of his, but, anyhow, yes, a future Romulan is destroying all Federation planets. But why is a good question to ask, don't you think?"

"What I'm wondering is, what would an angry future Romulan want with Captain Pike?" Asked Jim, ignoring my question.

"As captain he does know details of Starfleet's defenses." Replied Sulu, giving me some information I didn't know about.

"What we need to do is catch up to that ship. Disable it, take it over and get Pike back." Said Jim.

"We are technologically outmatched in every way. A rescue attempt would be illogical." Spock logically reasoned with Jim.

"Nero's ship would have to drop out of warp for us to overtake it." Added Chekhov.

"Then what about assigning engineering crews to try and boost our warp yield?" Jim tried to manuver around to find a solution.

"Remaining power and crew are being used to repair radiation leaks on the lower decks." Spock stopped him.

"and damage to subspace communications," continued Spock as Jim said "Okay. Alright. Alright." They kept talking at the same time. Spock was getting louder.

"Without which we cannot contact Starfleet." Finished Spock just as Jim said "There's got to be some way."

Ultimately Spock ended the argument. "We must gather with the rest of Starfleet. To balance the terms of the next engagement."

"There won't be a next engagement! By the time we've gathered it'll be too late." Jim logically reasoned back with Spock. "You say he's from the future and knows what's gonna happen, then the logical thing is to be unpredictable."

"You're assuming that Nero knows how event's are predicted to unfold? The contrary, Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with the attack on the USS Kelvin, culminating in the events of today, thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents, that cannot be anticipated by either party." Spock was always one for huge explanations.

"An alternate reality." Uhura said correctly guessing.

"Yes. Whatever our lives might have been beforehand, if the time continuum was disrupted our destinies have changed." I said trying to put it in simple terms. But possibly not succeeding.

"Mr. Sulu, plot a course for the Laurentian system, warp factor 3." Spock ordered.

Jim jumped at the order. "Spock, don't do that. Running back to the rest of the fleet for a-a-a con fab is a massive waste of time."

"These are the orders issued by Captain Pike when he left the ship." Spock reminded Jim.

"He also ordered us to go back and get him." Jim responded back. "Spock, you are captain now, you have to make-"

Spock cut him off. "I am aware of my responsibilities, Mr. Kirk."

But Jim didn't stop for him to see reason. "Every second we waste, Nero's getting closer to his next target."

Immediately Spock counteracted. "That is correct and why I'm instructing you," Spock began to finish, ", to accept the fact that I alone am in command." as Jim began.

"I will not allow us to go backwards and cower from the problem instead of hunting Nero down." Jim finished his statement by yelling. He and Spock had serious issues going for them.

The room was silent and still, save the few beeps that echoed in the room. Spock and Jim staring at each other with definitive looks (at least Jim was). At last Spock broke the silence. "Security, escort him out."

If Jim was mad before he was enraged now. He allowed the security guards to grab him, but only momentarily. Soon he punched one then the other sending them to the ground. "No Jim!" Was heard from Leo. I said nothing as I looked onto the scene with a definite plan in my head, but a rather blank face.

Spock went behind Jim and administered the Vulcan nerve pinch at him. Jim crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Spock looked back up at the guards and said almost angrily "Get him off this ship."

Throughout the entire discussion I had not moved from my spot, until I saw Jim being picked up from the floor. I silently moved around the Captain and walked out of the bridge. I heard the door close behind me. I headed towards the locker room.

I put on some pants and a blue shirt. I didn't know where I was going to land, but I just wanted to take precaution, even though what I was about to do was irrational.

I walked out of the locker room and went where they had put Jim into a pod ready to send him off the ship. When I got there I exchanged a few words with the guards and asked them to prepare another pod for me.

They moved rather swiftly so I could leave around the same time as Jim, I could tell. Before I could actually get into the pod and strap myself in, I heard someone calling my name.

I turned and found none other than the Captain himself. "Captain." I said darkly. "What brings you here?" I tried to be polite.

"What are you doing, Lieutenant?" His question quite straight forward.

"I'm preparing to leave along with my unconscious brother, Captain." I replied, tilting my head to where Jim's pod was. "It seems that if someone were against your ideas, they aren't much welcomed on the ship."

"Is this because of your loyalty towards your sibling, Lieutenant?" Asked Spock. He completely ignored my last statement.

"No, it's not. It's about being right or wrong. And logic isn't the answer here, Captain. I know that what you are doing is logically right, but morally? It's not. If Nero heads to Earth, he will destroy it just as he did with Vulcan. Then all the remaining Earth citizens will feel what you have felt. Do you want that, Captain? To kill billions of lives when you knew you could save them. I, for a fact, don't, and that's why I'm leaving. Besides you are half human, I would've thought you'd want too save your last remaining home." I went into pod, but the door remained open.

"But I guess I was wrong about you, Spock. My brother and I both disagree with you, so I'm leaving a with him. No matter what you say can change my mind."

I sat in the pod and strapped myself in. A guard came and closed the door of the pod. Before the door was closed, I saw Spock and his face remained the same. I sighed, when the door closed. I really thought I could change his mind, but I guess not.

I felt the pod shudder as it was ejected from the ship. I was just hoping that I landed somewhere where Jim was. I could see the stars and the empty vastness of space, through the window of the pod. I closed my eyes and relaxed, and somehow, ended up falling asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A jolt woke me up, forcing my eyes to open. Through the window all I could see was white. I shook my head to get rid of the sudden dizziness that had appeared. I unstrapped myself from my seat.

"Computer, where am I?" I asked as I tried to manuver around in the pod.

"Location: Delta Vega. Class M planet: Unsafe. There is a Starfleet outpost 15 km to the northwest." Replied the computer obediently. I groaned softly. "Remain in your pod and wait for Starfleet authorities to retrieve you."

"How about no." I told the computer, even though I knew it wouldn't respond. I continued to shuffle around, eventually opening the door of the pod.

I looked around. I had landed on a ice planet, judging by the snow and ice compacted together to make the walls of the hole I was in. Now I was grateful for the pants.

I looked in my pod searching for the emergency duffel bag. Once I found it, I strapped it on. Before I got out, I asked the computer a final question.

"Computer, any lifeforms detected nearby?"

"There is a pod approximately 1 km northwest from your current location with a lifeform detected within."

I sighed in relief. It is extremely likely that could be Jim.

I began to climb up the hole. It was hard, mostly because my hands would go cold very quickly. The other half was because I wasn't that good at climbing, but I managed.

Upon reaching the top and getting out of the hole, I looked around at my surroundings. I was right. An ice planet. I slung off the duffle bag and looked at the contents inside. A communicator, a coat, gloves, an assortment of shirts, a pair of khaki shorts, and... is that sunblock?

'Well, at least they consider protection from UVA and UVB rays.' I thought.

I took the coat and gloves putting them on. As I shuffled through the bag looking for something else, I found a small bag. Like a satchel. It had emergency supplies inside. First aid kit, granola bars, etc.

I put the communicator in a pocket of the coat I was wearing and put on the satchel. I left everything else in the duffle bag.

'I don't need it anymore, nor does anyone else for that matter.' I thought to myself and kicked the bag down the hole to where the pod landed. I looked towards the northwest.

The landscape of the planet was rather plain. So I was guessing I was in a tundra. In the distance could I see mountains jut out of the landscape. I began my trek to find Jim.

It didn't take long for me to find him. About 3/4 of an hour walking in the direction told to me by the computer, I saw something black move in the distance - although it wasn't very far away; less than a tenth of a mile.

It seemed to be standing up and judging by the way it came out of nowhere, it climbed out of a hole. Like I did.

All of the evidence pointed towards that being Jim. My body found energy enough to take me to Jim. I ran.

"Jim!" I yelled at him when I was within hearing distance. He turned and with that I ran faster. He didn't see me coming. I tackled him to the ground all while giving him a hug.

"Jim!" I said gleefully. I was just happy I landed close to my brother. I was sort of lucky at the moment.

"Lily?" He said when he managed to make me let go. We both stood up. Before Jim could ask any questions, he looked me over, holding me at arm's length. "What are you doing here? Are you hurt? How did we end up here?"

"1) I am enjoying this Class M planet. 2) I'm not hurt. I'm fine. 3) Spock sent you here. I came along for the ride."

"Why did you come? You should've stayed behind!" He exasperated. Usually I was the one doing it. To be fair I did do something stupid - in his eyes anyway.

"I didn't like what Spock wanted to do." Jim and I stared at each other before I spoke again.

"Nero is heading for Earth. Our home. Nero will do exactly what he did at Vulcan and that'll leave us as part of an endangered species too! I thought that because he's half human, he'd-"

"He'd go and protect his final surviving home. I'm guessing you told him exactly what you told me, but he still isn't budging." Jim interrupted.

I nodded solemnly. Jim let go, but I held his hands. I could feel him shiver from how cold it was. "Spock didn't listen to me. He's still heading to regroup with the rest of the fleet."

I was silent and Jim didn't say a thing either. "Come on, look through the duffle bag and grab a coat. We need to go to the Starfleet outpost. There we can find a way out of this place."

I let go of his hands so he could grab the duffle bag that was at his side and take out a coat. As he did that, Jim looked over at me.

"When did you change?" He asked looking back at the bag.

"On the ship before we were ejected."

"Did you say anything to anyone?"

"I barely had time change before I could catch a pod, so no." Jim nodded as he took out a similar coat to mine out of the bag.

Soon he was dressed in a coat and gloves that similar to mine. Then he took out the communicator. It was broken. It had wires all over the place.

"It's busted." Jim said. I took mine out of my pocket.

"Mine isn't. Here." I placed it into his hand.

"Thanks." He said and began to fiddle with it.

"Are you ok? Did you hit your head?" I asked. He looked up at me.

"No, I'm fine. Why?"

"You said thank you for the first time since we were kids."

Jim glared at me for a second. "Very funny, Lily." I snickered in response. I looked out ahead of us.

"We should get going. We need to get to the outpost." I said getting serious again.

"Agreed." We both trudged forward and began our journey to the Starfleet outpost.

We were both quiet as we walked through the snowstorm that suddenly descended on us. That was until Jim huffed and took the communicator out.

"This is James T. Kirk." He began. "Star date 2258.42."

"44." I interrupted.

"Or 44. Whatever." Added Jim.

"Acting Captain Spock has marooned Lieutenant Lillian K. Kirk and I on Delta Vega, in what I believe to be a violation of Security Protocol 49.09 governing the treatment of prisoners aboard a star..." He trailed off as a howl was heard behind us. I'm pretty sure it isn't the wind howling though.

We both turned and in the distance we saw something. It was hard to see exactly because of the wind and snow, but soon it was close enough for me to see what it was.

The only description I could say was it reminded me of a bear. A blue bear with a white mane and sharp teeth would be a good description.

I ran, and pulled the back part of Jim's coat with me. Just as I did that he exclaimed and turned to begins running like I was. I was ahead but not by much, since I heard him fall.

I turned and saw the beast closer to us. Jim was on the floor and in his panic he was having trouble getting up. I went back and began to pull him up. He's heavier than I originally thought, but surprisingly I managed to get him back on his feet.

Grabbing his hand, I ran and dragged him with me. We ran and ran. The thing was right behind us. Jim tripped and I thought we were dead for sure as we both tumbled down.

That was until the ice underneath our feet cracked and appeared another beast, this one was red. Even though I was on the floor, I immediately began to move backwards and eventually stand all while looking at the new (and potentially dangerous) beast. Jim was still on the ground watching as the red animal fought the bear like animal.

When it finished fighting the other animal (by knocking it into the block of ice near by), it turned on us. The new beast roared at us with it's mouth that reminded me of an arachnid.

The beast overall reminded me of an arachnid. With it's legs that were like an arachnid, but the ends were hard and it must've been hard for it to move.

Jim continued staring until I pulled him along. He got up by himself, but I continued pulling.

"Jim! Run!" I yelled and ran for my life once again. This time Jim was at my side, but he kept looking back.

I saw a slope down up ahead (or at least I hoped it was a slope down), but I took my chances. As I neared the slope I jumped.

Luckily I was right. It was a slope down. Unfortunately for my butt, it was a bumpy ride down. Many rocks and things like that. Jim rolled ahead of me. He obviously didn't see the slope and tripped, opting to roll down it instead of what I did.

A roar took my attention and I momentarily looked up. The arachnid beast looked down upon us. I smiled. It couldn't come down. Then it slipped on something and began to roll down like Jim. That wiped the smile off my face very quickly.

I tucked and rolled hoping it would take me to the bottom faster. I was right, I just didn't count for the amount of ice boulders near the bottom. And the ice rink. Don't forget about the ice rink at the bottom.

Jim reached the bottom before I did. He was on his back groaning as the beast finished its trip down. I stopped at a close second to Jim. But I was sitting on the ground instead of lying on it.

A roar reminded me why I was down here i n the first place. I got up and pulled on Jim so he'd do the same. That's when I noticed the ice. We over a lake or something, but it was frozen over. It made running very hard, but we both tried and quickly began to move forward.

We were lucky we moved as soon as we did. Otherwise we would've become pancakes. In a scurry we both ran, Jim grabbed my arm dragging me along this time.

"Ahh!" Jim screamed as he pulled me along. I stayed silent, not wanting to scream like a little girl if I opened my mouth.

There was a cave opening up ahead and Jim saw it as he went straight for it. The arachnid alien beast was catching up on us.

We went into the cave and kept running. Although the entrance was small the beast crashed right through it. It was fazed but only for a moment and continued the chase. We were both out of breath. So much running can do that to a person.

Jim let go of my hand and slowed down a bit as he almost fell down once again. Managing to not fall down, he continued on. We passed under an arch and suddenly Jim yelled out.

I turned. I didn't expect for the arachnid to have a tentacle like tongue. It gripped Jim's foot dragging him to it as he laid on the ground flinging his arms out trying to get free.

As Jim kicked at the tongue, I wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled, trying to free him free from the arachnid. Then a light illuminated the beast.

The beast let go of Jim and began to retreat not liking the light. It wasn't until in my line of vision, that I noticed it was a flame. A torch to be more specific.

The torch's carrier seemed to incline forward as the arachnid retreated. Waving the to torch around, scaring the arachnid beast. Jim leaned on my chest breathing heavily. I stayed sitting on the ground breathing heavily until the stranger turned to us.

After the arachnid left, the stranger walked backwards for a bit. He seemed to be reassuring himself that the beast would no longer come back. The stranger then turned, his face illuminated by the light the flame was giving off. He looked at us in surprise.

He looked squarely at Jim. "James T. Kirk." He said to Jim before looking at me. "Lillian K. Kirk."

How did he know our names? Who was this man? I quietly stood up from my spot behind Jim. He sat up straighter when he heard his name from the man.

"Excuse me?" Jim asked. He, like me, had no idea who this guy was.

"How did you find me?" The old man asked. Jim looked up at me as I looked down at him. We exchanged confused glances. Find him? Jim immediately stood up, and tried to push me behind him.

"How do you know our names?" Jim countered. We weren't going to say anything until the old man told us what he knew.

The man gave a resilient sigh. "I have been and always shall be your friend."

Jim gave a almost silent "what?" and began to chuckle a bit.

"Sorry, he doesn't know what that means." I spoke for the first time since the man rescued us. But I have heard that phrase before, I just don't remember where.

"What she means to say is that we don't know you." Jim said right after me. I glared at him. He didn't need to be so rude, especially to the man who saved us.

"I am Spock." The old man said suddenly. I looked at him bewildered. Then I noticed the ears. Realisation came to me.

"Bullshit." Jim and I said at the same time. I elbowed him in the ribs. He groaned and rubbed his ribs, trying to stop the pain.

"It is remarkably pleasing to see you again, old friends." Said Old Spock across from a fire he had made. It was weird to see my mentor and friend like this.

"Especially after the events of today." He added bringing back Vulcan's demise back to my head. Jim stood up. I looked up at him. I have no idea of what he's going to do.

"Sir, I appreciate what you did for us today, but if you were Spock, you'd know that neither one of us are friends. At all." I winced at that from my spot on the icy ground.

"Uh. Not really, Jimmy." I said. Old Spock and Jim turned to me. Old Spock looking neutral, which wasn't surprising, and Jim who did look surprised.

"What are you talking about?" Jim said. I stood up.

"Don't freak out, Jim." I told him. "But I do have a friendship with Spock."

His mouth was hanging open. "What?" He croaked at last.

"Pike assigned me a mentor, Spock. We were in a professional relationship of student and teacher in the beginning. Somehow we became friends. We were on good terms until the assembly." I told Jim. He couldn't believe it. "I was going to tell you when we left the Academy."

"By the way, you seem nicer than our Spock." I told Old Spock. I saw him grin, but only momentarily.

"He still hates me." Jim said. I nodded sadly.

"Unfortunately."

"You hate me." He clarified for Old Spock. "You marooned me here for mutiny."

"Mutiny?" Old Spock seemed a bit surprised. "What about you?"

He directed it at me. "I'm mad at you."

"You are not the captain?" He asked Jim after a moment of silence.

Jim who was pacing after my revelation, looked at him then sighed. "No, no, you're the captain. Pike was taken hostage."

"By Nero." Old Spock said. He seemed sad, thought his planet was just destroyed.

Jim had walked to the ice behind us and turned to look at Old Spock. "What do you know about him?"

"He is a particularly troubled Romulan." Old Spock answered with sincerity. Then he got up and went straight for Jim. "Please, allow me. It will be easier."

"What are you doing?" Jim asked looking at Old Spock suspiciously.

"Our minds, one and together." Spock said simply, only confusing Jim even more.

I understood what he was going to do. Spock, the one whose currently captain, has talked about this, but I've never seen it.

Old Spock put his fingers to his face, preparing for the mind-meld. "129 years from now, a star will explode and threaten to destroy the galaxy." Spock began.

I couldn't see Spock, but Jim closed his eyes and for some reason I felt I should do the same.

Immediately I'm bombarded by bright colours. Mainly white and bright blue, it eventually died down and showed me the galaxy 129 years from now.

"That's where I'm from, Jim, Lily, the future." Spock said. How did he know I was watching what he was showing Jim?

The scene went past planets, stars, and an asteroid field. It ended it in front of a star. This must be the star he was talking about.

"A star went supernova, consuming everything in its path." Spock said as the star, indeed, went supernova. It blasted and destroyed everything it could. There is no stopping a supernova. I knew that much. Nothing in space could stop it.

"I promised the Romulans that I would save their planet." Spock said as a pair of, what I assumed to be Romulans, look at someone, who turned out to be Spock.

Then a ship under construction was shown. "We outfitted our fastest ship," Spock said. "Which would absorb the exploding star." The inside of the ship was shown with a few Vulcans around. The thing that caught my attention was the giant red sphere behind the glass container.

I saw the ship sailed through space heading for the supernova. "I was en route, when the unthinkable happened."

Old Spock saw the supernova destroy Romulus from his ship. He was too late to save the planet. "The supernova destroyed Romulus." Spock's narration continued. "I had little time."

Old Spock approached the red sphere with a huge syringe. He inserted it into the sphere. It pulled away from the pointed end of the syringe, until it gave way. "I had to extract the red matter and shoot it into the supernova."

Old Spock took the small amount of red matter and put it into some kind of machine that ejected the red matter out of the ship and into the supernova. When it reached the supernova, an explosion happened. From the middle of the explosion a black hole appeared.

"As I began my return trip, I was intercepted." I saw Old Spock look at a small screen he had. On the screen Nero's face appeared. "He called himself Nero, the last of the Romulan Empire."

"In my attempt to escape, both of us were pulled into the black hole." From the glass in front of Old Spock on the ship, I saw the black hole much closer than even I would have liked to.

It changed from Nero's ship being pulled into the black hole on one side and the other was Old Spock's ship. Then back to Nero's ship as it encountered the Kelvin.

"Nero went through first. He was the first to arrive." The Kelvin. Dad. Mom. Jim. Me. We were there. Now I was watching my dad's sacrifice. Something I never thought would happen.

Nero's ship fired at the Kelvin as the Kelvin fired back trying to protect itself. I thought I should see shuttles behind the Kelvin. There we were, except for Dad. Strange to think that mine and Jim's birthday is also the anniversary of our dad's death.

Next, Nero was shown at a prison. Most likely Klingon, considering that's from where Nero's ship escaped from. "Nero and his crew spent the next 25 years awaiting my arrival."

"But what was years for Nero," Old Spock's ship was pulled into the hole. "Was only seconds for me. I went through the black hole. Nero was waiting for me." Once exiting the black hole, Nero was, indeed, waiting for him.

"He held me responsible for the loss of his world." Spock's narration kept going. "He captured my vessel and spared my life." Old Spock's ship was in Nero's ship and it did look like Nero wouldn't kill Old Spock.

"For one reason. So that I would know his pain." Old Spock appeared on Delta Vega. "He beamed me here so that I could observe his vengeance." Old Spock looked up at Vulcan. It was a different view of Vulcan's destruction, but the effect was still the same for me. Even the second time around was painful to watch.

"As he was helpless to save his planet, I would be helpless to save mine." Old Spock's facial expressions were the same as our Spock's facial expressions of when it happened. "Billions of lives lost because of me, Jim, Lily. Because I failed."

The bright colours appeared again, but disappeared faster this time around. I saw the fire, and the ice and snow. I gasped and I heard Jim do the same. I felt tears run down my face. I was breathing heavily. What happened?

"Forgive me. Emotional transference is an effect of the mind-meld." Spock apologised. I turned to Old Spock, wiping away the tears as Jim walked away.

"Why did I see everything you showed him?" I asked.

"I do not know. You and Jim guessed it is because you are closer than other twins. But we do not know for sure." Old Spock answered.

It quiet for a while. Jim and I were trying to get over our emotional transference. He spoke first.

"So you do feel." He commented, but it almost sounded like a question.

"Yes." Spock answered.

"Going back in time you changed all our lives." Jim said.

"Jim, Lily, we must go." Spock said. He probably didn't want to get into this conversation. "There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."

He walked past Jim and began to head out. Jim and I exchanged glances. "Wait." I called out. Spock turned.

"Where you came from, did we know our father?" I asked.

"Yes. You both often spoke of him as being your inspiration for joining Starfleet." He turned to Jim. "He proudly lived to see you become Captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?" Jim asked in a dreamlike state.

"He was proud that you became Head Science Officer of the Enterprise." Spock said turning to me. "A ship to which we must get you two to as soon as possible."

With that Spock turned and walked away. Jim and I looked at each other. We both knew our dad. And he was proud of what we've done. That was enough for us.

Narrator's POV

Back on the Enterprise...

"Warp 3, sir." Spoke Helmsman Sulu.

"Course 1-5-1, mark 3." Said Chekhov. "Laurentian system, sir."

"Thank you, gentlemen." Responded acting captain Spock.

"You wanted to see me?" Asked a voice that belonged to Dr. McCoy.

"Yes, Doctor." Replied the acting captain getting up from the chair. "I am aware that James Kirk is a friend of yours. I recognise that supporting me as you did must have been difficult."

The good doctor and acting captain walked around the bridge.

"Is that a thank-you?" The doctor commented.

"I am simply acknowledging your difficulties." Clarified the vulcan as they both stopped.

"Permission to speak freely, sir." Asked the doctor.

"I welcome it."

"Do you? Okay, then. Are you out of your Vulcan mind? You send Kirk away and his sister too! Not once have you mentioned her!"

"Doctor, she too is my friend. I am aware that she left, but she left on her own accordance. I did not force her into anything, nor did she leave to go with her brother." Bones didn't seemed surprised by the revelation that Spock was Lily's friend.

"She probably told you that, didn't she? She's lying to you! They're together no matter what! She was going to follow him no matter what. They'll go to the ends of the universe for each other, if necessary." Exasperated the doctor. "Though they're both oblivious to it."

Spock stayed silent. He hadn't thought of it like that. Then again, he hasn't had much time to analyse their relationship.

"Still..." Bones said, bringing Spock's attention back to him. "Are you making a logical choice, sending Kirk away? Probably. But the right one? Because look at the consequences.

"You know, back home we got a saying, 'If you're gonna ride in the Kentucky Derby, you don't leave your prize stallion in a stable.'"

"A curious metaphor, Doctor, as a stallion must first be broken before it can reach its potential." Spock spoke.

"My God, man, you could at least act like it was a hard decision!"

"I intend to assist in the effort to reestablish communication with Starfleet. However, if crew morale is better served by my roaming the halls weeping, I will gladly defer to your medical expertise."

The acting captain saw his father emerge from the lift that brought people to the bridge. "Excuse me." And left to talk to his father.

Bones looked back at him. "Green blooded hobgoblin." He muttered before walking away.

Lily's POV

Spock, Jim, and I walked the distance from the cave we were in to the Starfleet outpost. The storm from earlier got even worse and we couldn't see clearly in front of us for almost half of the time.

We hiked up over a hill and stared at the outpost. I sighed in relief as there weren't that many steps I needed to take to get out of the storm.

Jim opened the door to the outpost and let Spock and I go in first. I helped him close the door when the wind picked up.

After the door shut with a clang the both of us turned and looked down at the hallway we were in.

We heard someone calling out in a language I didn't know. I put down my hood as Jim yelled back out, "Hello!"

The light was dim, ocassionally flickering, but it sustained enough to see a person at the end of the hallway, where there was a brighter light.

The person ran down the hallway and they got closer I realised, this wasn't a human, but an alien. A very short alien. Apart from the alien's footsteps and Jim's heavy breathing, the howling wind from outside was still heard.

The three of us looked down at the short creature. Spock undid the flaps that covered his face to get a better view.

The creature lifted a pair of goggles off its rocky face, revealing its black eyes. He seemed to be studying us from the way his eyes darted from each of us.

None of us said anything as he turned and walked down the hall. Spock followed the creature first, soon followed by Jim and I.

We took a turn at the end of the hallway, still following the short alien. He led us into what looked like a garage or auto repair shop of some kind, with machine parts all over the place. It was warmer in here than in the hallway.

We walked into the room and then turned to see another human being. The little creature nudged the man.

"What?" He grunted. He reached up and took something off his face. He looked annoyed at the creature before spoting us.

He looked surprised at first, but it quickly turned to the same annoyed look he gave the creature. "You realise how unacceptable this is?" He said at last. An accent distinguishable in his speech.

"Fascinating." said Spock once the man was finished.

"What?" questioned Jim, while I stayed silent. Spock didn't answer as the man spoke again.

"Okay. I'm sure you're just doing your job, but could you not have come a wee bit sooner? Six months I've been here, living off Starfleet protein nibs," He threw food packets to the floor for emphasis.

"And the promise of a good meal! And I know exactly what's going on here, okay? Punishment, isn't? Ongoing." He said.

"Punisment?" I whispered just enough for Jim to here. He juat shrugged as the mysterious man kept going.

"For something that was clearly an accident."

"You are Montgomery Scott." stated Spock.

"You know him?" I asked.

"Aye, that's me. You're in the right place." Confirmed Mr. Scott. "Unless there's another hardworking, equally starved Starfleet officer around."

"Me." spoke up the short creature next to him. Mr. Scott turned to it.

"Get aff! Shut up!" said Mr. Scott. "You don't eat anything! You can eat, like, a bean, and you're done. I'm talking about food. Real food."

He began to stand up. "But you're here now, so thank you. Where is it?"

"You are, in fact, the Mr. Scott who postulated the theory of transwarp beaming." said Spock.

"That's what I'm talking about. How do you think I wound up here? I had a little debate with my instructor on the issue of relativistic physics and how it pertains to aubspace travel." Mr. Scott said, now sitting in a different chair.

I understood physics, but as to how it pertains to subspace travel I wasn't so sure.

"He seemed to think that the range of transporting something like a grapefruit was limited to about 100 miles. I told him that I could not only beam a grapefruit from one planet to the adjacent planet in the same system which is easy, by the way, I could do it with a life-form.

"So, I tested it on Admiral Archer's prized beagle." He concluded.

"I know that dog." Jim said. i glared at him silently asking how did hepersonally know an Admiral's dog. He ignored me. "What happened to it?"

"I'll tell you when it reappears." Scott coughed. "I don't know. I do feel guilty about that."

"What if I told you that your transwarp theory was correct, that it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is traveling at warp speed?" asked Spock.

"I think, if that equation had been discovered, I'd have heard about it." said Scott.

"The reason you haven't heard of it, Mr. Scott, is because you haven't discovered it yet." revealed Spock.

Scott looked confused until he realised what Spock was implying. He proceed to scoff and stand infront of us. "Are you from the future?"

"Yeah, he is. We're not." explained Jim.

"Well, that's brilliant. Do they still have sandwiches there?" replied Scott.

"Always thinking on your stomach, huh?" I ask. Scott just glances over at me. I reach over to shake his hand. "Lily Kirk."

"Montgomery Scott." he reintroduces himself as he lightly shakes my hand. "And this is Keenser." he points to the short alien.

"This is Jim Kirk." I pointed to Jim, who stood next to me.

"Her brother." added Jim.

"And the local idiot." I added on top of that. Jim glared at me. "This pleasant old future man is Mr. Spock."

"But in all seriousness, we need your help, Mr. Scott."

"And what would that be?"

"Help us get on the Enterprise." I unveiled.

"Well, she's a wee bit dodgy. Shield emmiters aee totally banjaxed, as well as a few other things. On youse go." Scott told us. "So the Enterprise has had its maiden voyage, has it? She is one well-endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll pardon the engineering parlance."

"Yes. But it hasn't gone so well. Hence our haste to get back on the Enterprise." I replied.

"Except," Scott went to where Spock was as he typed. "The thing is, even if I believed you, right, where you're from, what I've done, which I don't, by the way,"

Scott got up and went to where Jim and I stood. "You're still talking about beaming aboard the Enterprise while she's traveling faster than light without a proper receiving pad. Get off there! It's not a climbing frame." He exclaimed to Keenser.

Jim moved to help Keenser down as I stayed watching Scott as he moved around. "The notion of transwarp beaming is like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet whilst wearing blindfold, rising a horse. What's that?" He asked Spock as he reached him again.

"Your equation for achieving transwarp beaming." replied Spock.

"Get out of it." mumbles Scott. Then he scoffs in amazement as Keenser approaches him. "Imagine that! It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving."

"You're coming with us, right?" Jim asks Spock. We had agreed that we needed Scott to come with us as well. Spock turned to face us.

"No, Jim. That is not my destiny." I still wasn't used to Spock calling Jim Jim.

"Your... He... The other Spock is not gonna believe me. Only you can explain what the hell's happened." protested Jim.

"Under no circumstances can he be made aware of my existence. You must promise me this. Both of you." He said looking sternly at me. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Was my alternate self much like me? Enough to get Spock to look at me like that, like he knew what I was going to say or do.

"I promise." I said.

"You're telling me I can't tell you I'm following your own orders? Why not? What happens?" Jim asked instead.

"Jim, this is one rule you cannot break." Pleaded Spock. "To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."

"How? Over your dead body?"

"Preferably not. However, there is Starfleet regulation 619. 619 states that any command officer who's emotionally compromised by the mission at hand must resign said command."

"That's perfect! We all know how you are about reglations." I said getting the idea.

"So, you're saying that we have to emotionally compromise you guys." Jim said with his eyes shut.

"Actually it'll be all you. You're the one taking command not me." I replied.

"Jim, I just lost my planet. I can tell you, I am emotionally compromised. What you must do is get me to show it." explained Spock as a look of understanding passed over his face.

"Aye, then, laddie and lady. Live or die. Let's get this over with." Scott said rejoining us.

"You two go first." I said as Jim walked towards the transporters. "I won't be far behind." I took Jim's hand squeezing it and giving him a reassuring look. I looked over at Scott and Keenser.

"No, go." Scott tried to push Keenser away. "You cannae come with me. Go on." Keenser at last moved away before I squeezed Jim's hand one more time and then walked over to where Spock was.

"You know, coming back in time, changing history, that's cheating." said Jim.

"A trick I learned from a pair of old friends." Spock replied warmingly. Je pressed a few buttons before turning to Jim again.

He did the Vulcan salute that younger Spock talked about. "Live losng and prosper."

Jim took one last look at us both before getting back in time to be beamed away.

Keenser waved at Scott as they left. After the light faded away, Keenser whined. He already missed Scott.

"Think you can reset it up for me?" I asked.

"Certainly." Spock said as he turned to the controls to make sure they're still set up. "You and Jim make a remarkable team, Lily. One never goes anywhere without the other, most of the time."

"Also I call your bluff, but I won't say anything. I already promised." I revealed, momwnts later.

"I'm not surprised. You could always see right through them. I'm just lucky, Jim isn't as intelligent as you are." Spock confessed.

I walked into a transporter. "Tell me one thing."

Spock turns. "Will Jim and I always be like this? Close, I mean."

"The closeness between the two of you never ceases to amaze me. Even Jim and I didn't have a closeness quite like yours. Though you two do have your moments, you are, for the most part, inseparable."

"Thanks Spock. You're a good friend. Annoying as hell sometimes, but a good friend nonetheless." I replied.

"You as well, Lily. You are truly remarkable and I am glad to call you a friend." He pressed a few butons then did what he did to Jim before. "Live long and prosper."

I smiled at him as the light appeared in front of my eyes and soon blocked all of my visual.

Just as quickly as it reappeared, it disappeared and I was standing in engineering on the Enterprise. I smiled as I thought that Scott did it.

"Lily! I need your help!" I heard Jim shout.


End file.
